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SUCCESS 
AMONG    NATIONS 


BY 

EMIL    REICH,   J.D. 

AUTHOR  OF 

'GRECO-ROMAN  INSTITUTIONS"   "HISTORY   OF  CIVILIZATION  ; 

"A  NEW   STUDENT'S   ATLAS  OF   ENGLISH   HISTORY"   ETC. 


NEW  YORK   AND  LONDON 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

1904 


MAR  1  8 


30518 


Copyright,  1904,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

All  rights  rcstri'cd. 
Published  June,  1904. 


c  B 


Tk  2-H 


CONTENTS 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

Success,  as  will  be  readily  admitted,  is  either  material  or  in- 
tellectual. This  division  becomes  more  complete  by  subdi- 
viding material  success  into  («)  economic,  and  (0)  political 
success;  and  intellectual  success  into  (a)  literary  and  artis- 
tic and  (6)  religious  success.  In  the  present  chapter  we 
shall  treat  of  economic  success;  in  fact,  many  a  great  nation 
of  history  succeeded  pre-eminently,  not  to  say  exclusively,  in 
economic  achievements.  Examples:  (in  ancient  times)  the 
Babylonians;  the  Egyptians  (refutation,  incidentally,  of  the 
common  error,  that  the  Egyptians  created  science,  religion, 
or  art)  ;  the  Carthaginians;  China;  (in  modern  times)  the 
pre-Columbian  states  in  America Page  1 

II 

CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

Human  progress,  among  white  people,  has  historically  started 
from  a  few  centres,  not  one  of  which  offered  remarkable  nat- 
ural advantages  to  man.  Man's  efforts  had  to  combat  or 
supplement  Nature.  Those  centres  are:  Jerusalem,  Athens, 
Rome,  Florence,  Paris,  and  London.  Influence  of  the  al- 
phabet      Page  22 

III 

SUCCESS    IN    IMPERIALISM.— I 

Some  nations  succeed  in  bringing  a  greater  or  lesser  number 
of  people  under  their  rule.     Such  are  the  Persians,  the  Mon- 

iii 


CONTENTS 

goto,  the  Macedonians,  the  Romans.  Distinction  between 
these  nations:  (a)  some  (examples)  mere  brute  conquerors, 
establishing  tyrannies,  not  states;  (h)  others  (examples) 
establishing  not  niero  conquests,  but  states  proper  .  Page  44 


IV 

SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM.— II 

Other  examples  in  empire- building:  Venice.  Her  rise  and 
growth.  Causes.  Effects.  Holland  and  the  Dutch  Empire. 
Reasons  of  its  failure.  The  British  Empire.  Its  unprece- 
dented character   ....  ~.    ~.    :    ".    T  ....   Page  G2 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS.— I 

Not  every  manifestation  of  man's  thinking  power  constitutes 
intellectual  progress.  The  Babylonians,  Egyptians,  Chinese, 
and  Carthaginians,  too,  had  books,  inventions,  intellectual 
contrivances  of  all  kinds.  Examples.  Yet  they  never  had 
literature,  philosophy,  science,  nor  art  proper.  What  makes 
these  four  products  of  the  human  mind?  Short  explana- 
tion of  the  salient  points  -of  the  most  perfect  specimens  of 
literature,  philosophy,  art,  and  science — i.e.,  Greek  works. 
Their  essential  advance  on  all  previous  efforts.  Exam- 
ples      Page  83 


VI 

INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS.— II 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  an  over-exuberant  growth  of  intel- 
lectuality deprives  nations  of  much  of  that  grit  and  rough 
energy  without  which  abiding  commonwealths  cannot  be  es- 
tablished. Thus  the  Hellenes,  the  Renaissance  Italians,  the 
eighteenth-century  Germans,  etc.,  who  all  astounded,  and 
still  astound,  the  world  with  their  unparalleled  intellectual 
achievements,  were  all  unable  to  hold  their  own,  and  were 
either  ruined  or  came  very  near  being  so.  Causes  of  intel- 
lectual  greatness.  Not  to  be  found  in  race,  nor  in  "evolu- 
tion," which  are  mere  words.  Historical  causes  .  Page  104 
iv 


CONTENTS 

VII 

RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS.— I 

A  few  nations  succeeded  in  founding  systems  of  religion  that 
spread  over  vast  areas  and  converted  millions  of  people. 
Buddhism.  Hebrew  Monotheism.  Christianity.  Mohamme- 
danism. Calvinism.  The  origins  of  the  latter  four  religions 
are  all  from  amazingly  small  and  apparently  insignificant 
beginnings.  Where  they  do  not  lead  to  the  establishment  of 
an  ecclesiastical  polity  or  Church  proper,  there  they  absorb 
man's  best  powers  to  an  extent  injurious  to  his  other  inter- 
ests.    The  Roman  Catholic  Church Page  121 

VIII 

RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS.— II 

Cause  of  universal  religions  is  exclusively:  personality.  Short 
sketch  of  the  personality  of  Moses,  Jesus,  Mohammed,  and 
Calvin.  The  futility  of  modern  so-called  Higher  Criticism, 
which  may  or  may  not  destroy  this  or  that  passage  or 
chapter  in  a  canonical  book,  but  which  utterly  fails  in  the 
construction  of  the  main  point:  the  personality  of  the  found- 
ers  of  religion Page  149 

IX 

SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN   NATIONS 

The  Latin  nations  (the  French,  the  Italians,  the  Spanish).  Af- 
ter brief  discussion  of  the  Spanish,  follow  the  Italians.  Their 
two  besetting  evils,  in  spite  of  a  splendid  geopolitical  posi- 
tion, are :  ( 1 )  In  the  past,  that  they  have  not  won  their  unity 
by  their  own  efforts;  (2)  that  the  Papacy  constantly  under- 
mines them.  France:  Her  history  both  the  most  interesting 
and  the  most  widely  read;  yet  France,  practically,  a  terra 
incognita,  especially  to  English-speaking  people.  Profound 
mistakes  about  the  character  of  the  French.  Her  women, 
her  men.  Her  basal  aspirations.  Her  wealth.  Europe's  ab- 
solute need  of  France.  Her  destiny.  She  will  always  be 
the  leading  nation  in  Europe  on  account  of  her  wealth,  her 
intellectuality,  and  her  numerous  reverses,  that  have  sobered 
and   steeled   her Page  1G8 


CONTENTS 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

The  Slav  nations,  Poland  and  especially  Russia.  Power  of 
Russia  very  much  overrated.  History  never  goes  by  num- 
bers, as  do  Parliaments.  Has  at  the  present,  and  will  have 
for  generations  to  come,  neither  wealth  material  nor  wealth 
intellectual  or  volitional.  Gravitates,  since  17G2,  exclusively 
towards  Asia.  Panslavisra  is  no  danger  whatever  to  Europe. 
Russia,  moreover,  cankered  by  her  Greek  Church    .    Page  198 


XI 

SUCCESS    AMONG    GERMANS 

The  Germans.  The  women.  The  men.  Education;  especially 
higher  education.  The  universities.  The  cause  of  the  supe- 
riority of  the  German  professor.  German  intellectual  ac- 
tivity; its  universality  and  wonderful  organization  (Jahr- 
biicher,  Handbiicher,  Encylopwdien,  etc.).  Germany's  great 
military  defeats  and  successes  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
Eer  imperialism.  Her  internal  dangers.  Socialism.  The 
chief  obstacle  to  German  imperialism  is  her  geography.  She 
can  never  absorb  Austria.  Reasons:  France  and  Italy  can- 
not admit  it.  Irreconcilability  of  France.  It  is  only  by  ab- 
sorption of  Austria  that  Germany  could,  by  obtaining  access 
to  the  Adriatic,  sit  astride  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and 
so  essentially  improve  her  chances  for  imperialism  and  world- 
policy  by  securing  real  sea-power.  Her  industrial  progress 
will  soon  be  checked  and  toned  down  by  the  rapid  and  rising 
industrialism  of  Italy,  Austria-Hungary,  and  the  numerous 
minor  but  very  wealthy  Slates  of  Europe.  Yet  with  all  that, 
the  German  will  undoubtedly  realize  much  of  the  higher 
type   of   civilization Page  220 

XII 

BRITISH    SUCCESS 

The  English.  Their  women.  Their  men.  Education.  Intel- 
lectual activity.  Rec/ime  (social)  of  castes.  Up  to  Eliza- 
beth, England  failed  in  her  attempts  at  imperialism,  both 
in   France   and   in   Scotland;    not   so   in    Ireland.     After  the 


CONTENTS 

Tudors,  England,  chiefly  aided  by  her  geopolitical  situation, 
built  up,  by  colonization  and  conquest,  a  vast  empire  based 
on  sea-power  and,  in  modern  times,  on  rational  and  humane 
government  too.  Her  empire  lacking  territorial  continuity. 
Her  sea-power  exposed  to  serious  challenging;  as  has  been 
her  industrial  supremacy.  Her  civilization  will  always  be 
great  and  one-sided.  In  Europe  she  can  no  longer  be  um- 
pire. It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  sea-power,  now  coveted 
by  all  the  great  nations,  will  continue  to  remain  in  her 
possession Page  247 

XIII 

SUCCESS    IN    AMERICA 

The  Americans.  The  women.  The  men.  The  Americans  have, 
of  all  modern  nations,  the  greatest  chance  of  success,  eco- 
nomic or  material,  provided  the  Far  East  will  be  ready  to 
undergo  a  process  of  Europeanization.  Then  the  Amer- 
icans will  be  in  the  very  economic  centre  of  the  globe.  In- 
tellectual success  in  the  highest  sense  is  less  likely  in  Amer- 
ica, in  spite  of  the  immense  increase  in  colleges,  libraries, 
and  all  the  other  means  of  conveying  knowledge.  For  the 
highest  intellectual  progress  is  based  on  intense  person- 
ality, and  absolute  democracy,  which  pervades  all  the 
spheres  of  American  life  (not  as  in  Athens,  only  some), 
is  hostile  to  the  rise  of  intense  personalities  other  than  po- 
litical. Moreover,  American  women  have,  by  over-mental- 
ization,  weakened  their  powers  for  good.  What  a  nation 
wants  consists,  in  addition  to  a  good  geopolitical  position, 
mainly  and  exclusively  of  two  factors:  real  women,  who 
do  not  want  to  be  men;  and  real  men,  who  do  not  try  to 
be  women.  As  to  rule,  America  will  come  into  conflict  with 
Europe,  and  then  learn  a  wholesome  lesson.  The  true  trend 
of  history  is:  progressive  differentiation,  not  imperializa- 
tion  of  Europe;  progressive  unification  of  North  America. 
It  is  by  such  vast  contrasts  between  great  peoples  that  the 
highest  objects  of  civilization  are  secured     .     .     .     Page  2G5 

Index Page  281 


PREFACE 

In  Success  Among  Nations  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  initiate  the  reader  into  the  psychological  view 
of  History,  by  giving,  in  outline  and  by  means  of  a  few 
illustrations,  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  human  forces  that 
have  raised  some  nations  to  the  glory  of  success,  while 
their  absence  has  prevented  other  nations  from  holding 
their  own  in  the  battle  for  historic  existence. 

It  is  certain  that  a  living  knowledge  of  the  present 
helps  us  most  essentially  in  the  comprehension  of  the 
past.  But  may  we  not  also  assume  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  past  so  gained  may  guide  us,  to  a  certain  extent, 
in  a  foreknowledge  of  the  future  ?  At  any  rate,  in  the 
present  sketch  we  have  also  essayed  to  draw  a  few  les- 
sons from  History  as  to  the  probable  course  of  events 
regarding  the  leading  nations  of  Europe  and  America. 
After  a  resume  of  success  in  the  past,  we  have  tried  to 
sketch  the  probable  national  successes  of  the  future. 

In  our  deductions  we  have  been  prompted  by  no 
motive  of  national  prejudice,  nor  by  any  vague  or  tra- 
ditional view  of  politics.  Our  predictions  may  be  en- 
tirely wrong;  but  we  venture  to  say  that  our  method 
of  arriving  at  them  is  the  only  one  that  can  seriously 
be  advanced.     We  may  have  applied  it  wrongly.     It 


PKEFACE 

is,  nevertheless,  the  method  by  which  alone  historic 
insight  can  be  obtained.  Its  principle  is  simple;  to 
carry  it  out  is  somewhat  less  simple.  It  consists  in  a 
study  both  of  numerous  books  and  historic  "  sources," 
and  of  about  a  dozen  highly  differentiated  modern  na- 
tions, each  in  its  own  country.  The  study  of  modern 
nations  is  more  difficult  than  is  generally  assumed. 
It  is  easy  to  arrive  in  France,  and  to  stay  there  for  a 
month  or  two.  It  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  the  real  soul 
of  the  French  people.  More  than  mere  passing  through 
France,  America,  Germany,  etc.,  is  needed  to  grasp 
some  of  the  less  obvious,  yet  all-important,  features  of 
a  nation's  psychology.  Nothing  short  of  lengthy  strug- 
gles for  existence  in  a  modern  country  will  give  one 
the  opportunities  by  the  close  analysis  of  which  one 
may  arrive  at  the  real  soul  of  a  foreign  nation. 

The  author  of  the  present  work  may  claim  this  par- 
ticular mode  of  studying  modern  nations.  From  Hun- 
gary, his  native  country,  to  the  United  States,  he  has 
had  ample  and  eagerly-sought-for  opportunity  of  study- 
ing the  leading  nations  of  modern  times  during  long 
and  often  painful  conflicts  and  struggles.  The  result 
of  all  these  observations  of  the  human  soul  in  its 
various  national  manifestations  is  very  frequently 
quite  the  reverse  of  what  is  generally  held  to  be  the 
case.  In  fact,  there  is  little  danger  of  exaggeration 
in  stating  that  most  opinions  held  by  one  modern 
nation  on  the  others  are  wrong.  The  reader  is,  there- 
fore, requested  to  give  the  author  the  benefit  of  doubt, 
whenever  the  author's  view  of  a  given  national  institu- 


PREFACE 

tion  seems  to  be  heterodox.  Let  the  gentle  reader  ask 
himself  whether  he  has  taken  his  view  on  the  basis  of 
personal  and  patient  study  of  the  given  foreign  institu- 
tion in  its  own  country,  or  whether  he  has  derived  it 
only  from  a  newspaper  or  an  encyclopaedia.  Most  of 
all,  let  the  reader  be  tolerant  with  regard  to  views  on 
the  reader's  own  country.  There  exists  no  greater 
fallacy  than  the  inference,  that  because  a  man  is  an 
Englishman  he  must  necessarily  know  all  about  Eng- 
land. An  Englishman  may  know  much  about  Eng- 
land, or  an  American  about  America.  But  it  does  not 
necessarily  follow  at  all.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a 
very  rare  exception.  Knowledge,  difficult  enough  in 
the  inorganic  world,  is  increasingly  difficult  in  the  or- 
ganic; and  with  regard  to  human  institutions  we  are 
still  in  the  infancy  of  true  knowledge. 

May  the  following  pages  contribute  to  a  better 
understanding  of  nations,  and  so  to  the  promotion  of 
the  noblest  aims  of  civilization. 

This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  suggestion  made 
to  me  by  an  American  friend,  Mr.  Curtis  Brown, 
London  correspondent  of  a  distinguished  American 
newspaper,  who,  I  trust,  would  gladly  testify  to  my 
often  expressed  admiration  for  his  fellow-country- 
men, notwithstanding  the  criticisms  I  have  ventured 
to  offer  here.  Emil  Eeicii. 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

Success,  as  will  be  readily  admitted,  is  either  material  or  in- 
tellectual. This  division  becomes  more  complete  by  sub- 
dividing material  success  into  (a)  economic,  and  (&)  po- 
litical success;  and  intellectual  success  into  (a)  literary 
and  artistic,  and  (6)  religious  success.  In  the  present 
chapter  we  shall  treat  of  economic  success;  in  fact,  many 
a  great  nation  of  history  succeeded  pre-eminently,  not  to 
say  exclusively,  in  economic  achievements.  Examples:  (in 
ancient  times)  the  Babylonians;  the  Egyptians  (refutation, 
incidentally,  of  the  common  error,  that  the.  Egyptians  cre- 
ated science,  religion,  or  art)  ;  the  Carthaginians;  China; 
(in  modern  times)   the  pre-Columbian  states  in  America. 

Scarcely  anybody,  upon  the  most  cursory  consid- 
eration, can  have  failed  to  realize  how  rarely,  if  ever, 
national  success  has  been  complete.  If,  on  meeting 
with  unmistakable  indications  of  widespread  mate- 
rial prosperity,  be  has  looked  to  find  anything  like 
a  corresponding  degree  of  intellectual  activity,  he 
must,  on  the  whole,  have  been  singularly  disillusioned ; 
and  on  proceeding  to  pass  in  review  the  great  nations 
who  have  won  a  lasting  name  in  the  world's  history, 
he  must  have  been  ever  more  and  more  struck  by  the 

1 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

almost  constant  divorce  between  great  economic  wel- 
fare and  intellectual  progress.  More  especially  is  this 
contrast  patent  among  the  people  whom  we  find 
grouped  at  the  dawn  of  history  about  the  eastern  basin 
of  the  Mediterranean.  The  one-sided  nature  of  these 
civilizations  has  long  since  been  remarked,  and,  with 
one  or  two  important  exceptions,  with  which  we  shall 
deal  later  on,  their  development  followed  entirely 
material  lines.  In  the  present  and  immediately  suc- 
ceeding chapter  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  in- 
vestigation of  material  success. 

The  parallelism  between  the  economically  success- 
ful nations  is  exceedingly  striking.  In  spite  of  every 
possible  difference  of  "  race  "  and  time,  we  note  the 
same  phenomena  recurring  with  almost  constant  regu- 
larity. Among  many  latter  -  day  historians  it  has 
been  the  fashion  to  seek  an  explanation  of  national  pre- 
eminence in  race.  This  method  certainly  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  flattering  national  vanity,  but  it  cannot 
claim  any  great  scientific  value,  as  the  problems  it 
deals  with,  though  expressed  in  a  different  set  of  terms, 
are  not  brought  any  nearer  solution.  In  nearly  every 
instance  the  racial  threads  from  which  a  white  nation 
is  woven  are  so  inextricably  intertwined  that  it  would 
be  quite  impossible  to  determine,  even  with  approxi- 
mate exactitude,  what  is  the  predominant  element. 
Let  us,  then,  at  once  set  aside  the  hypothesis  of  any 

I  peculiar  virtue  inherent  in  a  particular  shade  of  com- 
plexion or  variety  of  blood,  and  seek  for  a  far  readier 
explanation  of  our  facts  in  the  physical  conditions  un- 


ECONOMIC   SUCCESS 

der  which  those  nations  lived  and  had  their  being.  We 
shall  then  see  why  it  is  that  the  conquering  race  is 
so  often  compelled  to  bow  to  the  civilization  of  the 
vanquished  and  advance  along  their  line  of  develop- 
ment. How  often  has  this  been  the  case  in  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  and  even  China! 

The  civilization  of  those  great  nations  has  always 
exercised  a  peculiar  fascination  upon  the  imagination 
of  the  masses,  who  are  impressed  by  the  quantity  and 
bulk  of  its  productions.  The  traveller,  passing  amid 
the  countless  debris  scattered  upon  their  track,  felt 
his  imagination  dazzled.  Gazing  upon  the  mysterious 
writings  on  the  walls,  he  dreamed  that  they  infolded 
unfathomable  depths  of  wisdom,  and  for  a  moment  he 
was  eager  to  prostrate  himself  in  adoration  before  the 
cradle  of  all  human  knowledge.  Fired  by  kindred 
feelings  of  awe  and  curiosity,  men  of  learning  spent 
years  of  patient,  unflagging  labor  in  the  decipherment 
of  those  long-lost  tongues,  only  to  find,  when  at  last 
their  efforts  were  crowned  with  success,  when  cunei- 
form and  hieroglyph  held  no  more  enigmas,  that  they 
had  only  been  pursuing  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  At  the  most 
they  could  add  a  few  unmeaning  names  to  the  roll  of  a 
yet  more  unmeaning  dynasty.  What  wonder  that  the 
greatest  of  all  Egyptologists,  E.  de  Champollion,  died 
bemoaning  the  years  he  had  thus  wasted  in  unavailing 
toil. 

In  all  the  mass  of  Egyptian  writings  there  is  scarcely 
a  line  which  repays  perusal.  When  Ebers  discovered 
his   famous   papyrus,   containing   all   the   secrets   of 

3 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

medicine  as  practised  from  time  immemorial  in  the 
land  of  the  Pharaohs,  there  was  a  moment's  glimmer 
of  hope,  immediately  extinguished.  Here,  again,  we 
meet  with  the  same  dull  veneration  of  what  has  gone 
before,  which  marks  all  the  works  of  Egypt.  Even 
medicine  has  been  reduced  to  a  stereotyped  code,  and 
we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  Diodorus  of  Sicily  when 
he  tells  us,  that  the  doctor  who  failed  to  comply  with 
the  injunctions  therein  laid  down  exposed  himself  to 
capital  punishment.  The  Ebers  papyrus  has  pre- 
served for  us  the  sixth  book  of  this  stupendous  work 
almost  unimpaired.  It  includes  a  wealth  of  mi- 
nute anatomical  observations,  but  no  conclusions  are 
drawn;  added  thereto  is  a  rich  store  of  charms  and 
incantations  designed  to  relieve  the  unhappy  patient. 
Egyptian  mathematics,  as  preserved  for  us  in  the 
Aahmes  papyrus,  are  but  little  better.  A  few  element- 
ary problems  are  clumsily  solved,  but  their  practical 
object  is  self-evident,  and  no  general  theorems  are 
deduced. 

A  span  of  a  hundred  centuries  severs  us  from  the 
earliest  records  of  Egyptian  history  brought  to  light  by 
modern  research,  yet  ten  thousand  years  have  not 
sufficed  to  the  Egyptians  to  produce  a  single  writing 
of  real  literary  worth.  As  early  as  the  fifth  dynasty 
(3727-3479  B.C.),  short  biographical  notices  begin  to 
be  engraved  upon  the  statues ;  they  are  but  the  baldest 
statement  of  fact,  and  make  no  claim  to  literary  form 
or  style.  The  Prisse  papyrus,  although  not  written 
till  well  on  in  the  twelfth  dynasty  (2886-2726  B.C.), 

4 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

was  composed  in  the  fifth.  It  is  the  work  of  Prince 
Ptahhotep,  and  lays  down  the  rules  for  the  observances 
of  a  virtuous  life.  We  might  have  thought  that  this 
marked  the  dawn  of  a  new  literature,  but  from  the 
fifth  dynasty  onward  the  stream  of  literary  remains 
becomes  more  and  more  meagre.  Much  has  doubtless 
been  destroyed,  for  we  know  of  the  existence  of  well- 
stocked  royal  libraries,  but  it  is  very  improbable  that 
we  have  lost  anything  but  the  records  of  official  trans- 
actions and  the  reports  of  governmental  departments. 
The  bulk  of  what  we  possess  consists  of  books  of  ritual, 
containing  the  most  minute  directions  upon  points  of 
religious  ceremonial.  We  have  also  a  considerable 
number  of  fables,  but  they  certainly  do  not  rise  to 
the  level  of  the  modern  images  d'Epinal.  In  the 
twelfth  dynasty  Egyptian  letters  are  considered  to 
have  reached  their  heyday.  Hieroglyph  painting  was 
certainly  never  carried  to  a  higher  pitch  of  perfection, 
and  we  are  happy  enough  to  have  recovered  one  or 
two  documents  bearing  some  slight  trace  of  human 
feeling,  and  not  the  production  of  the  usual  official 
automaton.  Our  most  precious  record  is  the  letter 
of  Duaufsechruta  to  his  son  Pepi,  then  at  college,  in 
which  are  extolled  the  excellencies  of  a  religious 
life.  But  this  one  vestige  of  the  higher  aspirations 
of  literature  stands  out  in  sad  and  lonely  contrast 
amid  the  waste  of  formal  inscriptions,  unless  we 
except  the  poem  composed  by  Rameses  to  celebrate 
1 1 is  triumph  over  the  Cheta  (Hittites)  in  the  thirteenth 
century  b.c. 

5 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Egyptian  civilization  appears  to  be  spread  over 
great  masses  of  population  with  remarkable  uniform- 
ity. It  is  extensive  but  not  intense.  It  is  curious  to 
watch  how,  at  a  certain  point  of  its  development,  all 
its  productions  become  petrified.  All  becomes  con- 
ventional, and  though  often  carried  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  mechanical  perfection,  it  always  bears  the 
impress  of  the  eminently  skilled  artisan,  never  the 
touch  of  the  artist.  For  generations  the  same  model 
has  served  and  has  been  copied  with  slavish  fidelity, 
but  probably  throughout  Egypt  there  is  not  a  single 
work  bearing  witness  to  the  creative  genius  of  an  indi- 
vidual artist.  Egypt  in  all  her  days  never  rose  to  the 
level  of  a  fifth-rate  Pheidias  or  of  a  sixth-rate  Prax- 
iteles. The  enterprising  Birmingham  manufacturer 
may  scatter  his  pseudo-antiquities  broadcast  upon  the 
bric-a-brac  markets  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria.  He 
will  never  essay  to  restore  the  lost  arms  of  a  Venus  of 
Milo.  The  Egyptian  is  without  ideals,  and  all  his 
annals  do  not  suffice  to  produce  a  single  personality, 
a  spark  of  individual  genius.  Conventionality  per- 
vades his  every  act,  even  to  the  most  dramatic  aspects 
of  life.  In  many  instances  his  absence  of  originality 
is  quite  instructive.  When  the  invention  of  new  in- 
struments permitted  the  Egyptians  to  quarry  stone, 
it  might  not  unnaturally  have  been  expected  that  their 
architecture  would  have  undergone  a  revolution,  or  at 
least  would  have  received  some  innovation.  But  the 
precedent  of  his  forebears  had  entered  into  the  Egyp- 
tian soul,  and  the  last  stone  building  of  ancient  Egypt 

6 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

followed  the  lead  of  its  wooden  prototype  of  untold 
centuries  before. 

Of  primitive  art  in  Egypt  very  few  specimens  have 
survived,  but  though  we  are  hardly  able  to  watch 
the  successive  stages  of  its  development,  we  can  ob- 
serve the  progress  of  the  paralysis  to  which  it  fell  an 
early  victim.  Some  of  the  earlier  statues  will  show 
the  hand  of  the  individual  artist,  such  as  the  famous 
figure  of  a  scribe  now  in  the  Paris  Louvre ;  this  dates 
from  the  fourth  dynasty.  In  the  fifth  dynasty  the 
disease  has  already  got  a  firm  hold.  There  is  a  wealth 
of  detail,  but  the  vigor  of  the  earlier  work  is  gone. 
Very  rapidly  all  artistic  initiative  vanishes,  and  all 
subsequent  productions  conform  more  and  more  to 
the  conventional  type.  There  is  one  very  characteris- 
tic sign  of  conventionality  which  clung  to  Egyptian 
art  to  the  very  last;  this  is  the  lack  of  perspective, 
which  we  shall  see  recurring  under  similar  circum- 
stances in  the  far  East.  In  all  hieroglyphical  paint- 
ings the  human  being  is  depicted  in  the  same  arti- 
ficial and  impossible  pose.  The  face  and  legs  are  in- 
variably depicted  in  profile,  but  the  eye  and  trunk  are 
drawn  always  in  full  face.  Even  this  incongruity 
does  not  appear  to  have  shocked  the  Egyptian  artistic 
sense. 

It  is  the  land  of  Egypt  that  fashioned  the  people  of 
Egypt,  and  the  land  of  Egypt  was  made  by  the  Nile. 
The  Nile  has  made  the  Egyptian  a  cultivator,  and  in 
agriculture  the  Egyptian  found  his  unparalleled  ma- 
terial wealth,  but  at  the  cost  of  all  his  nobler  aspira- 

7 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

tions.  Doubtless  economic  causes  played  no  small 
share  in  undermining  the  intellectual  stamina  of  the 
people.  The  ruling  classes  amassed  the  riches  of  the 
country  in  a  few  hands,  but  were  entirely  occupied 
with  the  task  of  governing  the  subservient  toiler,  and 
in  gratifying  their  own  desires  for  material  comfort. 
The  workers  split  up  into  castes,  and,  with  no  horizon 
of  ambition,  would  rapidly  sink  to  a  level  of  stupid 
uniformity,  while  learning,  likewise  confined  to  a 
narrow  sacerdotal  caste,  would  become  cumbrous  and 
spiritless.  The  ideal  of  the  Egyptian  was  a  life  of 
enjoyment  in  this  world,  and  his  great  preoccupation 
was  to  prolong  the  delights  he  had  enjoyed  here  below 
after  death.  Nearly  all  the  great  industries  of  Egypt 
were  in  some  way  connected  with  the  service  of  the 
dead,  and  many  of  the  most  gigantic  engineering 
works  were  carried  out  to  the  same  end.  The  princi- 
pal use  made  by  the  Pharaohs  of  their  immense  pow- 
ers and  dominions  was  to  raise  the  vast  pyramids, 
which  they  no  doubt  considered  capable  of  resist- 
ing all  the  attacks  of  nature  and  able  to  preserve 
their  remains  through  infinite  ages. 

Love  of  battle  for  battle's  sake  was  also  not  a  trait 
in  the  Egyptian  character,  and  when  his  wars  were  not 
wars  of  self-defence,  they  aimed  at  some  very  tangible 
material  object.  The  west  coast  of  the  Sinaitic  penin- 
sula was  conquered,  not  out  of  any  mere  ambition  of 
power,  but  in  order  to  secure  its  very  valuable  mala- 
chite and  copper  mines. 

As  Egyptian  history  was  fashioned  by  the  Nile,  so 

8 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

that  of  Babylonia  is  the  work  of  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates. Here  rich  black  alluvial  soil  makes  farm- 
ing easy  and  profitable.  The  results  tally  with  those 
already  noted  in  Egypt.  Herodotus  speaks  with  con- 
tempt of  Babylonian  doctoring  as  pure  empiricism. 
Their  claim  to  scientific  knowledge  outside  astrono- 
my does  not  appear  to  be  better  founded.  The  monu- 
ments of  Babylonia,  though  they  have  for  the  greater 
part  crumbled  to  dust,  being  built  of  sun-dried  Eu- 
phrates mud,  appear  to  have  been  as  massive  as  those 
of  Egypt,  but  not  much  more  gainly.  Our  docu- 
mentary evidence  regarding  ancient  Babylonian  his- 
tory is  far  more  copious  than  that  we  possess  concern- 
ing Egypt,  and  through  the  ingenious  discovery  of 
Grotefend  in  1802,  by  which  the  decipherment  of 
cuneiform  inscriptions  was  made  practicable,  and  the 
further  labors  of  Burnouf,  Eawlinson,  and  Lassen, 
we  have  been  able  to  get  the  fullest  insight  into  the 
civilization  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  Since  1842  vast 
numbers  of  records  on  cylinders  and  earthenware 
tablets  have  been  turned  up  among  the  ruins  of  Nine- 
veh. They  contain  information  concerning  almost 
every  detail  of  public  and  private  life.  There  are 
dedications  of  monuments,  adulatory  inscriptions  tell- 
ing of  the  conquests  of  great  kings,  letters,  accounts, 
private  contracts;  and  quite  recently  the  oldest  code 
of  law,  that  of  King  Hammurabi,  has  been  unearthed. 

Yet  another  country  achieved  great  commercial  suc- 
cess upon  the  Mediterranean.  In  Carthage  the  intel- 
lectual  stagnation   is    more    frank    and    open.      The 

9 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Koman  occupation  swept  away  almost  all  that  was 
truly  Punic,  but  what  little  has  been  gleaned  from 
the  heaps  of  debris  that  cover  the  site  of  the  ancient 
city  does  not  tend  to  exalt  Carthaginian  art  in  our 
estimation.  When  Carthage  fell  to  the  Romans  it 
contained  much  that  was  beautiful,  but  all  this  was 
the  plunder  of  Greek  cities  of  Sicily.  The  produc- 
tions of  Carthage  are  for  the  most  part  a  close  counter- 
feit of  Egyptian  models,  but  the  refinement  achieved 
by  generations  of  skilled  Egyptian  workmen  is  want- 
ing, and  the  imitation  is  awkward,  clumsy.  But  as  a 
commercial  power  the  Carthaginians  were  eminently 
successful,  and  they  were  able  to  organize  an  immense 
system  of  plantations  in  Africa,  which,  after  the  Ro- 
man conquest,  became  one  of  the  principal  grain-sup- 
pliers of  Italy.  The  Carthaginian  colonial  system 
was  no  doubt  rotten  at  the  base;  the  colonies  were 
worked  entirely  for  the  benefit  of  the  governing  oli- 
garchy at  home,  without  any  regard  for  the  native. 
Carthage  would  tolerate  no  commercial  rivalry,  and 
her  harsh  conduct  towards  the  conquered  enemy  left 
her  devoid  of  friends  when  the  moment  of  crisis  came. 
In  the  days  of  their  opulence  the  Carthaginians  pre- 
ferred to  delegate  their  military  duties,  and  to  buy 
soldiers  at  a  price,  rather  than  bear  the  risks  and 
fatigues  of  campaigning  in  person.  So  long  as  there 
was  money  in  the  treasury  the  system  answered  well, 
and  so  long  as  the  seat  of  war  was  far  removed  from 
home.  By  a  judicious  intermixture  of  many-tongued 
aliens,  Carthage  was  able  to  keep  her  armies  in  hand. 

10 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

Her  wealth  made  it  possible  for  her  to  carry  out  im- 
mense works  at  home:  the  great  city  walls,  thirty  cu- 
bits high,  in  the  thickness  of  which  she  found  room 
to  stall  numberless  horses  and  elephants;  the  great 
harbor  works,  which  sheltered  vessels  from  every 
quarter  of  the  then  known  world,  and  from  which 
issued  the  fleets  which  were  to  conquer  her  the  Bale- 
aric Islands,  Corsica,  and  Sicily,  and  particularly 
Spain.  All  of  these  colonies  she  ruled  to  good  pur- 
pose, if  with  a  rod  of  iron,  establishing  irrigation 
works  and  opening  up  metal-mines.  For  their  fellow- 
inhabitants  on  African  soil  the  citizens  of  Carthage 
nourished  a  lively  distrust,  even  for  such  as  were  half 
of  the  same  blood  as  themselves.  It  is  not  astonish- 
ing, for  the  natives  had  long  been  reduced  to  the  state 
of  fellaheen,  and  were  forced  willy-nilly  to  enter  the 
Carthaginian  armies.  Whenever  occasion  offered  they 
were  always  ready  for  insurrection,  but  Carthage 
had  prudently  reserved  for  herself  the  privilege  of  a 
walled  defence ;  she  compelled  her  semi-Phoenician 
subjects  to  dwell  in  open  villages,  in  spite  of  the  fre- 
quent forays  of  wild  desert  tribes  of  Bedouins. 

The  commercial  genius  of  Carthage  had  absorbed 
all  her  other  talents.  We  have  already  had  occasion 
to  note  the  crude  productions  of  her  arts.  In  letters 
she  made,  as  far  as  we  know,  little  progress  beyond 
the  bounds  of  practical  utility.  The  one  name  which 
has  come  down  to  us  is  that  of  Mago,  whose  book  on 
agriculture  was  translated  into  Latin  by  order  of  the 
Senate.     Carthaginian  power  depended  upon  capital, 

11 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

and  when  that  capital  was  exhausted,  when  she  could 
no  longer  pay  for  her  defence,  the  whole  empire,  full 
of  dissension  within,  fell  like  a  house  of  cards  before 
the  onslaught  of  Rome.  The  famous  secular  fight  be- 
tween Rome  and  Carthage  was,  on  the  whole,  a  fight 
between  a  real  nation,  whose  every  member  resolutely 
defended  his  country,  and  a  narrow  oligarchy  leading 
mercenary  armies.  At  times  Carthage  did  dispose  of 
the  immense  superiority  of  the  genius  of  some  of  her 
individual  leaders,  such  as  Hamilcar  Barcas,  and  his 
immortal  son  Hannibal.  In  the  long-run,  mercenaries 
proved  unable  to  defeat  national  armies. 

We  now  pass  to  the  further  Orient,  to  find  much  the 
same  state  of  affairs  as  we  have  encountered  in  the 
near  East — great  material  prosperity  extending  unin- 
terruptedly over  many  thousands  of  years.  The  rivers 
have  been  mainly  responsible  for  this  great  economic 
success.  In  China  the  alluvial  plains  deposited  by  the 
Hoang-Ho  and  the  Yang-tse  have  yielded  the  same 
abundant  crops  time  out  of  mind,  yet  for  at  least  three 
hundred  years  we  can  trace  no  mark  of  advance.  In 
agriculture,  by  long  experience,  the  Chinese  have  dis- 
covered the  most  expedient  rotation  of  crops,  the  most 
advantageous  means  and  material  for  manuring  the 
land,  where  the  land  is  not  of  the  rich  yellow  earth 
which  dispenses  with  all  manure.  By  these  methods 
they  have  arrived  at  considerable  economic  prosperity, 
without  ever  troubling  themselves  about  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  their  success.  All  has  been  achieved  in 
a  groove  of  routine.     Agricultural  chemistry  is  not 

12 


ECONOMIC   SUCCESS 

even  a  name  for  them.  Travellers  from  Europe,  im- 
pressed by  the  immense  output  of  productions,  have 
imagined  that  unbounded  wisdom  must  be  at  the  back 
of  this  measureless  material  welfare.  The  Jesuits, 
whose  missions  began  to  spread  over  China  after 
1582,  had  had  no  small  share  in  circulating  stories 
of  the  great  mathematical  achievements  of  the  Chinese. 
Our  misconceptions  on  this  score  have  only  been 
finally  exploded  within  the  last  century  by  the  labors 
of  the  eminent  French  Orientalist  and  mathematician, 
Emmanuel  Sedillot.  His  researches  prove  conclu- 
sively that  the  Chinese  were  acquainted  very  early 
with  several  important  geometrical  and  mechanical 
contrivances,  such  as  compasses,  the  level,  the  square, 
and  the  wheel.  Whence  they  procured  these  instru- 
ments is  exceedingly  debatable,  but  it  is  certain  that 
they  grossly  neglected  the  opportunities  thus  afforded 
them.  Except  by  purely  empirical  methods,  they 
were  incapable  of  solving  the  most  elementary  geo- 
metrical problems;  and  they  had  not  the  faintest 
notion  of  classifying  and  co-ordinating  their  obser- 
vations. With  the  secret  of  the  magnetic  needle  in 
their  hands,  they  made  no  progress  in  navigation, 
and  though  they  had  noticed  the  recurrence  of  certain 
celestial  phenomena,  their  astronomy  remained  primi- 
tive. At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  pioneers  of 
Jesuit  mission  work,  Ricci  and  Schall,  themselves 
distinguished  mathematicians,  a  few  trigonometrical 
truths  had  no  doubt  filtered  through  from  India  and 
led  to  their  great  over-estimate  of  Chinese  science. 

13 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Those  "who  followed  Columbus  across  the  Atlantic 
lifted  the  veil  from  two  other  nations  at  the  pinnacle 
of  material  prosperity.  The  description  of  the  com- 
rades of  Cortes  in  Mexico  reads  like  some  fairy-tale. 
But  it  is  the  story  of  Egypt  over  again.  Here  are 
huge  pyramidal  temples,  tcocallis  piled  story  upon 
story  and  crowned  with  lofty  towers.  The  capital, 
reared  on  an  island  in  mid-lake  Tezcuco,  is  a  marvel, 
with  its  broad  streets  of  stately  houses,  with  the  great 
stone  causeways  linking  it  with  the  mainland,  and 
with  its  floating  gardens.  But  all  this  at  the  cost  of 
wantonly  squandered  labor.  The  Mexican,  too,  had 
eaten  of  the  forbidden  fruit.  An  all  too  fertile  soil 
yielded  in  profusion  all  that  was  necessary  for  his 
daily  wants.  The  banana  thrived  everywhere,  while 
the  hillsides  cut  in  terraces  stood  deep  in  maize.  The 
agave,  chocolatl,  and  tobacco  were  to  be  had  for  the 
minimum  of  toil.  Steeped  in  this  atmosphere  of  ma- 
terial content,  the  Mexican  remained  insensible  to 
all  mental  stimulus.  His  monuments,  like  those  of 
Egypt,  may  excite  our  astonishment  by  their  massive- 
ness.  To  raise  them  must  have  required  the  toil  of 
countless  servile  hands  (the  Cholulu  temple  is  said 
to  have  employed  over  200,000  workmen)  ;  but  the 
strange  contorted  figures  with  which  they  are  graven 
are  too  hideous  and  grotesque  for  admiration.  As  in 
Egypt,  every  figure  is  moulded  on  the  same  conven- 
tional type,  on  which  the  workmen  never  ventured  to 
improve. 

We  are,  from  lack  of  information,  at  a  disadvantage 
14 


ECONOMIC    SUCCESS 

in  forming  a  true  estimate  of  ancient  Mexican  cul- 
ture. The  secret  of  the  native  records  is  unsolved, 
and  it  is  very  unlikely  that  the  future  will  do  any- 
thing in  the  way  of  elucidating  them.  Their  number 
was  very  considerably  reduced  by  the  Spanish  invaders, 
the  ignorant  destroying  from  motives  of  superstitious 
terror,  and  the  more  educated  out  of  religious  fanati- 
cism. Bishop  Zumarraga's  holocaust  of  hieroglyphic 
manuscripts  at  Tlatelolco  has  become  famous,  but 
there  were  doubtless  many  Zumarragas  on  a  minor 
scale  throughout  the  land.  Grave  doubts  have  been 
thrown  by  modern  criticism  on  the  strict  veracity  of 
our  Spanish  historians.  Where  numbers  are  in  ques- 
tion they  are  hopelessly,  if  not  always  wilfully,  in- 
accurate. It  was  very  natural  for  the  conquerors  to 
exaggerate  the  glory  of  their  discovery,  and  their  ac- 
counts have  led  us  into  great  misconceptions  with  re- 
gard to  the  extent  and  depth  of  the  old  Aztec  civiliza- 
tion. The  mental  calibre  of  the  Aztec  was  certainly 
not  heavy.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  reconcile  the  rite 
of  human  sacrifice,  practised  on  a  large  scale  in  Mex- 
ico, at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  arrival,  with  the  idea 
of  an  exalted  degree  of  civilization.  Cannibalism  was 
also  widely  practised. 

We  are  able  to  judge  for  ourselves  of  the  proficiency 
of  the  Mexican  in  many  departments  of  mechanical 
industry.  He  was  able  to  carry  out  great  systems  of 
irrigation  by  means  of  canals.  The  Spanish  were 
filled  with  admiration  at  the  splendid  granaries  in 
which  the  surplus  corn  was  laid  by  for  times  of  need. 

15 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Agriculture,  as  was  the  case  in  many  of  the  Old  World 
civilizations  at  which  we  have  cast  a  glance  in  the  fore- 
going pages,  lay  at  the  root  of  Aztec  prosperity.  The 
use  of  meat  was  rare,  owing  to  the  absence  of  all  but 
small  animals. 

The  buildings  with  which  the  entire  country  is 
strewn  have  always  offered  food  for  speculation  to  the 
explorer.  Numerous  as  we  may  imagine  the  population 
to  have  been,  the  existing  ruins  are  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  and  even  to  this 
day  many  a  temple  and  palace  lies  unknown  amid 
the  dense  tropical  forest-growth,  just  as  it  was  left 
by  the  destroying  hand  of  the  Spaniard.  Within 
the  last  two  years  Professor  Maler's  adventurous  jour- 
ney up  the  Usumasinta  led  to  the  rediscovery  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Yaxchilan,  which  is  being  gradually 
washed  away  by  the  swift  stream  of  the  passing  river. 
It  is  very  hard  to  say  why  the  Mexican  should  have 
been  seized  by  such  an  overmastering  passion  for  stone 
construction  when  abundant  timber  lay  ready  to  his 
hand.  The  toil  of  quarrying  immense  masses  of 
stone  without  iron  implements  of  any  description, 
and  of  thereafter  transporting  them  for  long  dis- 
tances, over  uneven  ground  intersected  with  frequent 
watercourses,  without  the  aid  of  any  draught-animal, 
must  have  been  immense.  We  cannot  but  admire  the 
ingenuity  with  which  the  great  calendar  stone  of  black 
porphyry,  weighing  some  fifty  tons,  was  brought  many 
miles  from  its  original  home  into  Tezcuco.  The 
buildings,  however,  show  no  great  progress  in  archi- 

16 


ECONOMIC   SUCCESS 

tecture.  In  Yucatan  the  palaces  are  windowless,  the 
doors  serving  for  both  light  and  ventilation.  The 
rude  geometrical  designs  which  decorate  the  exterior 
are  as  barbaric  in  their  conception  as  in  their  execu- 
tion. The  Mexican  was  never  able  to  sculpture  a 
human  figure  which  was  not  grotesque. 

Much  skill  is  shown  by  the  Aztec  in  the  working  of 
metals;  some  of  his  woven  tissues  have  been  pro- 
nounced as  fine  as  any  found  in  Egypt,  while  in  the 
gaudy  feather-work,  which  so  struck  the  Spanish 
fancy,  he  was  a  past  master.  But  in  spite  of  all  the 
cunning  shown  in  handicraft,  the  Mexican  never  at- 
tained any  intellectual  heights.  The  Aztec  hiero- 
glyphs, to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  recur,  were 
but  a  small  advance  upon  the  woodmen's  signs  em- 
ployed by  the  Redskin,  and  Aztec  astronomy  did  not 
extend  beyond  a  certain  number  of  chronological  ob- 
servations. 

We  do  not  know  upon  what  path  Aztec  culture  was 
bound  when  the  Spanish  invasion  broke  so  rudely 
upon  its  peace.  Whether  it  would  in  the  course  of 
ages  have  risen  to  greater  things,  or  whether  it  was 
already  on  the  high-road  to  decline,  is  a  question  no 
longer  in  our  power  to  answer.  All  we  know  is  that 
the  Aztec's  civilization  had  only  succeeded  to  a  yet 
older  civilization,  wrenched  by  the  right  of  might 
from  the  Toltecs,  whose  life  of  material  ease  had  ren- 
dered them  incapable  of  resistance  against  the  wilder 
races  of  the  north. 

The  earlier  expeditions  of  Francisco  Pizarro  to 
a  17 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Peru  during  the  fourth  decade  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury revealed  another  State  rivalling  even  Mexico  in 
wealth  and  prosperity,  but  presenting  many  striking 
features  of  similarity  with  Aztec  institutions.  Agri- 
culture is  the  foundation  of  their  success,  and  though 
the  land  is  not  in  itself  so  favorable  to  husbandry,  it 
is  rendered  prolific  by  immense  engineering  enter- 
prise. By  proper  irrigation  the  sandy  soil  of  both 
valley  and  sierra  could  be  made  cultivable,  and  no 
effort  was  neglected  to  procure  the  necessary  water. 
The  mountain  lakes  were  tapped,  and  stone  aqueducts 
were  built  to  carry  their  waters  many  hundred  miles 
over  hill  and  valley.  The  hillsides,  in  themselves  far 
too  precipitous  to  bear  plantations,  and  drained  by 
surface  water,  had  to  be  cut  into  terraces  and  faced 
with  stone.  In  many  instances  where  the  soil  had 
been  washed  away  new  earth  was  supplied,  and 
carefully  fostered  into  fertility  by  loads  of  guano 
brought  from  islands  along  the  coast.  Everything 
was  done  by  the  hand  of  man;  draught-animals  there 
were  none,  and  the  llama  as  a  beast  of  burden  was 
not  capable  of  carrying  heavy  loads,  and  was,  more- 
over, too  precious  for  other  purposes  to  be  frequently 
employed.  In  sandy  valleys  whole  acres  were  cleared 
of  the  superficial  arid  stratum,  and  the  subsoil,  by 
dint  of  fish  manure,  brought  under  cultivation.  Each 
clearing  had  to  be  walled  in  to  keep  off  the  encroach- 
ing sand  -  drifts,  and  the  unfertile  detritus  to  be 
removed  frequently  attained  a  depth  of  twenty  feet. 
All  these  immense  works  were  allowed  to  fall  into 

18 


ECONOMIC   SUCCESS 

ruin  under  the  Spanish  regime,  but  enough  remains 
to  bear  witness  to  the  indefatigable  industry  of  the 
ancient  Peruvian  agriculturist. 

The  Peruvian  was,  however,  yet  lower  in  the  intel- 
lectual scale  than  the  Mexican.  The  peculiar  polity 
of  the  State,  while  insuring  a  certain  degree  of  ma- 
terial welfare,  and  visiting  idleness  with  heavy  penal- 
ties, was  absolutely  opposed  to  individual  enterprise. 
The  country,  though  governed  on  humane  principles, 
was  farmed  entirely  in  the  interests  of  the  governing 
classes,  who  were  exempt  from  all  taxation,  the  weight 
of  which  fell  upon  the  laboring  masses.  Caste  was 
rigidly  maintained.  We  may  query  whether  this 
system  of  affairs  was  always  accepted  without  mur- 
mur by  those  subjected  to  it ;  but  so  excellent  was  the 
police  organization  maintained  by  the  Incas  that  re- 
sistance on  a  small  scale  was  impossible.  Great  high- 
ways radiated  from  Cuzco,  the  capital,  in  all  direc- 
tions. These  roads,  paved,  culverted  at  regular  in- 
tervals, shaded  with  trees,  supplied  with  drinking- 
water,  and  dotted  with  barracks  and  post-houses,  made 
it  possible  to  concentrate  troops  in  any  discontented 
region  with  incredible  swiftness.  From  Cuzco  to 
Quito  the  road  was  unbroken  for  fifteen  hundred 
miles,  the  narrower  ravines  were  spanned  by  stone 
bridges,  and  where  the  valleys  were  broader  the  road 
was  carried  over  strong  suspension  bridges,  built  of 
planks  and  ropes.  Peruvian  architecture  carries  us 
back  to  Egypt.  The  buildings  are  massive,  with  walls 
immensely  thick,  calculated,  no  doubt,  to  resist  the 

19 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

frequent  earthquakes  with  which  the  country  is  visit- 
ed. The  great  blocks  of  stone  are  fitted  together  with 
nicety,  but  there  is  the  same  lack  of  originality  in  the 
construction  as  marked  the  Mexican  palaces.  The 
same  gloom  reigned  in  the  interior,  unlit  by  windows, 
and  the  different  chambers  had  no  means  of  inter- 
communication. It  is  singular  that  the  Peruvians,  liv- 
ing in  a  land  rich  in  iron,  should  never  have  dis- 
covered its  uses.  Their  implements  were  either  stone 
or  copper  alloyed  with  tin.  Peruvian  textile  fabrics 
were  unrivalled,  and  they  displayed  especial  skill  in 
weaving  the  most  delicate  tissues  from  llama  wool. 
These  fabrics  were  dyed  in  brilliant  colors,  or  bright 
feathers  were  worked  between  the  threads,  as  was 
done  in  Mexico. 

We  have  advanced  ample  proofs  of  the  material 
opulence  of  ancient  Peru.  It  remains  to  show  how 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  their  technical  cun- 
ning was  the  intellectual  capacity  of  the  inhabitants. 

There  is  much  that  is  obscure  in  the  lore  of  the 
quipu,  or  cord  of  colored  threads,  by  which  the  Peru- 
vian endeavored  to  compensate  for  the  want  of  a  sys- 
tem of  writing.  The  whole  of  the  national  adminis- 
tration was  carried  out  by  means  of  these  cords ;  taxa- 
tion returns  were  forwarded  to  the  capital,  and  all 
kinds  of  statistical  reports  were  drawn  up.  We  have 
stories  told  by  early  Spanish  colonists,  telling  of  the 
rapid  manner  in  which  the  Peruvian  was  able  to  sum 
up  his  reckonings.  But  we  cannot  fail  to  see  how 
primitive  and  inadequate  a  contrivance  this  must  have 

20 


ECONOMIC   SUCCESS 

been  for  communicating  or  recording  abstract  ideas. 
Consequently,  Peruvian  learning,  such  as  it  was,  must 
have  been  perpetuated  exclusively  by  oral  tradition. 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  to  whose  Comentarios  Re- 
ales,  published  at  Lisbon  in  1608,  we  owe  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  our  information  regarding  Peru- 
vian institutions  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest, 
vouches  for  the  existence  of  a  quantity  of  Peruvian 
national  poetry  in  which  was  recorded  the  history  of 
the  land,  and  he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  translate  for 
us  a  Peruvian  ballad.  He  also  claims  that  the  Peru- 
vians had  developed  a  dramatic  literature  of  no  mean 
standing.  Peruvian  astronomy  is  so  elementary  as 
to  be  practically  non-existent.  Recent  discoveries  by 
Professor  Uhle  in  the  Pisco  Valley  have  considerably 
enlarged  the  horizon  of  Peruvian  history,  and  many 
interesting  relics  have  been  brought  to  light,  dat- 
ing probably  from  pre-Inca  times.  It  is,  however, 
scarcely  likely  that  even  more  ample  discoveries  will 
essentially  change  our  judgment  on  the  civilization 
of  the  Peruvian  Incas. 


n 

CENTRES    OF    NATIONAL    SUCCESS 

Human  progress,  among  white  people,  has  historically  started 
from  a  few  centres,  not  one  of  which  offered  remarkable 
natural  advantages  to  man.  Man's  efforts  had  to  com- 
bat or  supplement  Nature.  Those  centres  are:  Jerusalem, 
Athens,  Rome,  Florence,  Paris,  and  London.  Influence  of 
the  alphabet. 

It  has  been  shown  how  difficult  it  is  for  intel- 
lectual progress  to  take  place  in  a  country  where  the 
natural  conditions  permit  of  the  easy  and  rapid  ac- 
quisition of  wealth,  and  some  of  the  ensuing  examples 
will  go  far  to  prove  that  accumulated  hoards  of  riches 
are  alnlost  as  potent  a  factor  in  the  demoralization  of 
man's  nobler  faculties  and  aspirations.  We  have  seen 
how  great  states,  whose  opulence  has  been  founded  on 
agricultural  success  too  easily  won,  have  failed  to 
raise  up  for  themselves  any  ideals  in  art,  literature, 
or  even  politics.  Where  Nature  has  been  over-profuse 
in  her  benefits,  human  initiative  has  been  retarded,  if 
not  wholly  blighted.  The  desire  and  capacity  for  all 
occupations  which  do  not  present  an  immediate  pros- 
pect of  gain  are  slackened,  and  instead  of  going  about 
his  own  business,  which  is  the  formation  of  new  ideals, 
man  simply  becomes  an  extra  wheel  in  the  gigantic 

22 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

machinery  of  Nature.  Art,  when  it  becomes  the 
monopoly  of  a  limited  but  opulent  governing  class, 
instead  of  being  the  aim  and  object  of  national  ambi- 
tion is  doomed  to  early  sterility.  Art  will  never  con- 
sent to  become  the  luxury  of  those  who  can  afford  to 
pay,  and  the  combined  fortunes  of  a  dozen  industri- 
al millionaires  will  do  nothing  towards  inspiring  a 
masterpiece. 

If  over-opulence  is  fatal  to  man's  intellectual  ad- 
vance, so  is  indigence.  Poverty  is  not  conducive  to 
man's  real  progress.  A  nation  whose  every  thought 
and  action  is  absorbed  in  the  winning  of  its  daily  sus- 
tenance cannot  be  expected  to  strike  out  any  new  paths 
of  thought,  or  to  conceive  any  original  or  exalted  artis- 
tic ideals.  There  is  no  instance  of  a  nomadic  people 
having  attained  even  to  a  moderately  high  grade  of 
civilization;  and  races  which,  if  they  have  ceased 
from  actual  wandering,  are  still  entirely  occupied 
with  the  satisfaction  of  their  immediate  wants,  remain 
stationary.  The  fact  is  too  self-evident  to  demand  any 
illustration.  We  should  no  more  look  for  instruction 
in  art  from  the  Samoyedes  of  the  Great  Tundra,  than 
we  should  expect  to  discover  a  Shakespeare  among 
some  itinerant  horde  of  Sioux  Indians.  A  certain  de- 
gree of  comfort  is  essential  to  the  development  of  a 
higher  civilization.  It  is  equally  essential  that  that 
degree  of  comfort  should  have  been  achieved  by  effort. 
We  need  the  creation  of  a  leisured  class,  in  whose 
memory  is  still  fresh  the  recollection  of  those  steps 
by  which  they  have  passed  to  obtain  social  independ- 

23 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

ence.  A  governing  faction,  whose  immunity  from  the 
cares  of  every-day  life  is  due  to  the  "  sweating  "  of  a 
subservient  population  of  peasants  or  fellaheen,  will 
ever  remain  intellectually  impotent. 

As  we  proceed  we  shall  notice  that  almost  every 
step  forward  that  man  has  made  in  art,  science,  or 
literature  has  started  from  some  city-state.  Such  city- 
states  do  not  appear  to  have  existed  among  any  of  the 
great  economically  successful  nations  which  we  have 
noticed  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  In  almost  all  these 
countries  the  bulk  of  the  population  is  distributed 
thickly  throughout  the  country.  It  is  impossible  for 
the  agricultural  inhabitants  to  concentrate  about  a  few 
points;  they  must  dwell  in  close  proximity  to  their 
land — that  is,  in  villages.  The  cities  of  Egypt  and 
the  Carthaginian  provinces,  like  those  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  are  the  privilege  of  the  wealthy  dominant  class ; 
they  rarely  contain  any  popular  element,  and  cer- 
tainly never  boasted  of  anything  approaching  a  bour- 
geoisie. In  Egypt  the  great  towns  are  either  admin- 
istrative centres,  the  seats  of  some  great  religious 
observance,  or  pleasure  habitations  of  the  rulers.  The 
inhabitants  are  rulers  or  subjects,  between  whom  there 
is  nothing  in  common.  The  mechanics  are  necessarily 
grouped  more  or  less  into  these  centres  for  the  better 
convenience  of  their  taskmasters.  Such  cities  are 
essentially  artificial ;  there  is  nothing  natural  in  their 
formation.  We  have  many  instances,  in  Babylonia 
especially,  of  the  arbitrary  transfer  of  thousands  of 
inhabitants  from  one  point  of  the  country  to  another, 

24 


CENTKES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

in  order  to  meet  with  the  requirements  of  a  tyrannical 
government,  or  sometimes  merely  to  satisfy  the  per- 
sonal whim  of  the  sovereign. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  show  how  different  was  the 
case  among  the  real  intellectually  progressive  nations. 
It  is  due  to  no  mere  hazard  that  the  centres  from 
which  the  guiding  ideas  of  modern  humanity  have 
radiated  have  little  in  their  physical  surroundings  to 
recommend  them.  In  every  instance  their  inhabit- 
ants have  had  either  immense  natural  difficulties  to 
overcome  or,  at  least,  great  natural  drawbacks  to  put 
up  with.  It  is  out  of  this  constant  wrestle  with  dis- 
advantages that  they  have  emerged  with  the  temper  of 
steel,  and  the  hardened  energy  capable  of  carrying 
them  irresistibly  along  the  path  of  the  ideal  which 
their  life  of  struggles  has  helped  them  to  conceive. 
It  is  invariably  in  spite  of  Nature  that  they  have 
made  themselves  a  place  in  the  world.  The  most  im- 
portant events  and  institutions  of  history  have  been, 
directly  or  indirectly,  inaugurated  by  Jerusalem,  Ath- 
ens, Rome,  Florence,  Paris,  and  London. 

No  place  in  the  world  would  seem  less  fitted  to 
become  a  centre  of  intellectual  activity  than  Jerusa- 
lem. Standing  high  upon  a  narrow  and  precipitous 
limestone  plateau,  ill-watered,  and  with  only  here  and 
there  a  patch  of  green  fertility  in  the  neighborhood, 
little  oases  just  broad  enough  to  support  their  own 
small  communities,  no  town  could  appear  more  un- 
likely to  become  the  heart  of  all  the  religious  ideas  of 
modern  times.    Jerusalem  was  the  one  bond  of  union 

25 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

which  knit  together  the  scattered  units  of  Israel.  Here 
they  had  their  common  sanctuary  and  their  common 
God,  under  whose  protection  all  the  tribes  fought.  Is- 
rael was  the  centre  of  a  ring  of  enemies,  and  all  her 
history  is  the  record  of  a  continuous  struggle  against 
them.  It  is,  first,  the  victory  of  Ehud  over  the  Moab- 
ites,  then  of  Barak  over  the  Canaanites,  of  Gideon 
over  the  Midianites,  of  Jephthah  over  the  Ammonites, 
and  of  Samson  over  the  Philistines.  It  is  after  half  a 
century  of  varying  struggle  against  the  Philistines, 
under  Saul  (1055  [  ?]  b.c.)  and  David  (1025  [  ?] 
B.C.),  that  Hebrew  religious  poetry,  culminating  in 
the  Psalms,  attained  its  glory. 

The  physical  conditions  under  which  Greek  civili- 
zation grew  up  are  particularly  suggestive  of  reflec- 
tion. Some  of  the  contrasts  which  we  encounter  with- 
in the  narrow  limits  of  Greece  are  also  especially 
instructive.  In  Attica,  Nature  had  not  been  lavish 
of  her  gifts;  but  albeit  nowhere  spontaneous  in  her 
bounty,  she  is  always  ready  to  give  intelligent  labor 
its  reward.  Perhaps  no  country  was  ever  better  fitted 
to  call  forth  man's  latent  energies.  The  valleys  and 
plains  of  Attica,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  mountainous 
countries,  are  exceedingly  fertile,  but  the  lowlands  of 
Marathon  and  Eleusis,  however  generous  their  crops, 
could  never  cope  with  the  food  demands  of  the  capital. 
Attica  was  forbidden  from  the  outset  to  become  a  great 
corn-producing  country.  Cattle-raising  on  an  exten- 
sive scale  was  equally  out  of  the  question.  But  the 
olive  gardens  were  rich,  and  the  vineyards  productive ; 

26 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

both  entail  the  application  of  considerable  skill.  Wine 
and  oil  are  not  the  staff  of  life,  and  the  Athenians  very 
soon  found  it  necessary  to  barter  their  surplus  supply 
of  these  commodities  against  the  more  imperative 
necessities  of  every  day.  Their  natural  outlet  was 
towards  the  sea,  the  only  real  communication  by  land 
opening  into  Boeotia,  whose  markets  were  already  over- 
stocked. The  rudiments  of  commerce  Athens,  no 
doubt,  acquired  from  Phoenician  traders ;  but  the  rise 
of  Athenian  greatness  coincides  with  the  decadence 
of  Phoenician  Tyre  and  Sidon,  which  had  fallen  to 
Assyria,  and  Athenian  ships  soon  took  the  place  of 
their  predecessors  on  the  high  seas.  The  Athenian 
who  stood  on  the  heights  of  the  Acropolis  of  his  beauti- 
ful town  and  scanned  the  wide  view  thence  over  the 
Saronic  Gulf  must  have  felt  the  call  of  the  sea.  The 
regular  alternation  of  westerly  morning  winds,  which 
would  carry  him  in  a  few  hours  among  the  Cyclades, 
and  the  evening  breeze  from  the  eastward  to  bring 
him  home  again,  simplified  the  difficulties  of  naviga- 
tion. But  Athens  won  nothing  save  at  the  cost  of  toil 
and  struggle,  although  that  struggle  was  not  always 
of  too  severe  a  nature.  Her  rising  prosperity  led  her 
to  appreciate  at  their  value  many  of  the  possibilities 
of  the  home  country.  The  silver-mines  at  Laurium, 
close  to  Athens,  which  found  labor  for  20,000  men  in 
the  days  of  Athenian  greatness,  were  turned  to  ac- 
count. Sugar  was  as  yet  unknown,  and  wine  required 
the  admixture  of  honey  for  its  good  keeping.  The 
hives  of  Hymettus  were  another  valuable  asset  in  the 

27 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

island  commerce.  The  estimates  of  the  ancient  popu- 
lation of  Attica  are  practically  valueless,  so  wide  are 
the  discrepancies  between  the  figures  advanced  by 
even  the  most  competent  authorities,  but  in  so  small 
a  compass  there  was  probably  rarely,  in  the  Old  World, 
so  great  a  diversity  of  pursuits.  Athenian  agriculture 
was  necessarily  in  the  hands  of  small  holders;  large 
slave-plantations  remained  unknown  even  in  the  days 
of  decadence,  and  slavery  at  Athens  always  retained 
a  great  deal  of  that  patriarchal  element  which  com- 
pensated to  some  extent  for  its  evils.  Athens  never 
experienced  those  formidable  revolts,  even  when  she 
would  have  been  too  weak  to  stamp  them  out,  which 
so  often  threatened  the  very  existence  of  Rome  and 
Sparta. 

In  Athens  alone,  of  all  cities,  there  was,  in  the  pub- 
lic market-place,  an  altar  of  Pity.  The  co-existence  of 
men  of  so  many  interests  in  so  narrow  a  space  (Atti- 
ca is  hardly  the  size  of  a  small  English  county)  can- 
not have  failed  to  quicken  the  intelligence.  In  the 
Athenian  agora  (market-place)  the  common  ground  of 
the  shepherd,  farmer,  and  merchant,  there  must  have 
been  a  constant  give  and  take  of  ideas.  Already  the 
early  Athenian's  mental  horizon  must  have  been  far 
wider  than  that  of  his  fellow-beings  in  Egypt  or 
Babylonia.  Then,  as  Athenian  vessels  spread  over  the 
more  distant  seas,  there  must  have  been  a  constant 
influx  of  new  conceptions.  The  foreigner  was  always 
tolerated  in  Athens,  even  fostered,  and  anything  of 
value   he   may   have  brought   from   his   native   land 

28 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

among  his  intellectual  baggage  soon  became  absorbed 
into  the  general  wealth  of  his  adopted  city,  there  to 
flourish  and  bear  fruit.  Caste  restrictions  were  un- 
known; each  citizen  was  free  to  choose  his  own  call- 
ing. N/o  priestcraft  existed  to  monopolize  the  intelli- 
gent thought  of  the  nation.  Rapidly  prospering  busi- 
ness drew  capital  into  the  country,  and  a  class  grew  up 
which  was  not  compelled  to  seek  its  subsistence  by 
continual  toil.  They  had  mental  cravings  and  higher 
aspirations  to  satisfy,  and  with  what  success  they  ap- 
plied themselves  to  this  task  we  shall  see  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapters. 

As  we  turn  away  from  Athens,  from  its  port,  the 
Peiraeus,  with  its  motley  throng  of  traders  and  chaf- 
ferers  from  every  quarter  of  the  then  known  world, 
towards  Boeotia,  the  contrast  is  striking.  Here  the 
overflow  of  the  Cephissus,  recurring  with  the  constant 
regularity  of  the  Nile,  has  reproduced  the  condition  of 
Egypt ;  agricultural  prosperity  has  drawn  intellectual 
impotence  in  its  train,  and  throughout  Greek  history 
the  Boeotian  muses  are  unheard,  save  when  the  silence 
is  broken  by  the  voices  of  Hesiod  and  Pindar,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  could  only  sing  beyond  the  stultifying 
atmosphere  of  his  own  land. 

In  the  moulding  of  Athenian  destinies  a  yet  more 
powerful  agent  was  at  work.  On  all  sides  Attica  was 
open  to  attack.  The  hostility  of  the  neighboring  coun- 
tries, if  not  always  active,  needed  but  little  to  become 
so.  Jealousy  of  the  Athenian  hegemony,  envy  of  her 
affluence  and  of  her  colonial  dominions,  had  taken  a 

29 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

deep  hold  upon  them.  The  allies  of  Athens  were 
seldom  loyal  for  long,  and  their  friendship,  based 
on  interested  motives,  inspired  but  little  confidence. 
They  had  contemplated  with  equanimity  the  devasta- 
tion of  Attica  and  the  burning  of  Athens  at  the  hands 
of  the  Persians  (480  B.C.),  little  dreaming  how  soon 
she  would  rise  with  greater  glory  than  ever  from  her 
ruins.  The  Persians  were  hardly  disposed  of,  when 
Athens  was  plunged  into  wars  at  home,  marked  by  the 
battles  of  Tanagra  (457)  and  Coronea  (447).  Dur- 
ing the  long  struggle  of  the  Peloponnesian  War  the 
Athenian  citizen  was  compelled  to  watch  from  the 
walls  the  wasting  of  his  crops,  until  the  almost  annual 
inroads  of  his  enemies  gave  place  to  the  establishment 
of  a  permanent  hostile  garrison  -at  Deceleia,  in  Attica 
(413-404),  within  striking  distance  of  the  city  gates. 
This  constant  exposure  to  danger,  the  mere  fact  that 
he  must  be  constantly  on  the  alert  to  ward  off  a  sudden 
onslaught,  did  not  allow  the  Athenian  to  sink  into  a 
condition  of  mental  coma.  It  was  only  by  the  exer- 
cise of  all  his  ingenuity,  the  straining  of  every  nerve 
and  muscle,  that  he  could  make  up  for  the  losses  suf- 
fered at  home.  His  enterprise  abroad  received  new 
impulse.  The  sea  must  be  kept  open  at  all  costs; 
once  the  Bosphorus  was  closed  and  the  Black  Sea  corn- 
ships  cut  off,  Athens  must  inevitably  succumb.  War 
is  the  parent  of  all  things,  once  said  perhaps  the  great- 
est of  Greek  philosophers,  and  in  that  short  apo- 
phthegm of  Heraclitus  there  lies  more  of  the  secret 
of  Greek  intellectual  success  than  in  all  the  elucubra- 

30 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

tions  of  subsequent  theorizers  put  together.  Not  only 
xlthens,  but  almost  every  other  Greek  state  of  impor- 
tance, owed  its  all  to  the  constant  struggles  in  which 
it  was  involved.  The  enemy  hammering  at  the  city 
gates,  no  matter  whether  he  was  an  Asiatic  barbarian 
or  fellow-Greek,  caused  every  inhabitant  of  the  state 
to  feel  to  the  full  his  citizen  nationality  and  his  own 
importance  as  a  national  unit.  In  the  few  years  of  the 
so-called  thirty  years'  peace,  which  only  lasted  from 
445  to  431,  Athens  reached  those  heights  of  art  and  let- 
ters which  have  never  been  surpassed.  Sophocles,  the 
great  dramatist,  took  part  in  the  dances  offered  to 
the  gods  for  the  immense  victory  over  the  Persians  at 
Salamis.  He  himself  bore  a  hand  in  carrying  out  the 
Periclean  policy,  and  in  443-442  filled  the  important 
office  of  Hellenotamias,  being  thus  closely  associated 
with  Athenian  colonial  ideas.  Euripides,  the  dra- 
matist, was  born  on  the  day  of  the  victory  of  Salamis 
(480),  and  was  brought  up  amid  fresh  memories  of 
the  Persian  war;  he  saw  the  fall  of  Themistocles, 
lived  through  the  years  when  Pericles  and  Cimon 
were  battling  for  political  supremacy,  and  went 
through  all  the  hope  and  despair  of  the  Peloponne- 
sian  War.  iEschylus,  the  first  of  the  great  Athenian 
dramatists,  fought  at  Salamis.  Some  of  the  greatest 
masterpieces  of  Athenian  drama  were  staged  when 
the  war  was  at  its  height.  The  ffidipus  Coloneus  ap- 
peared about  430  B.C.,  the  Philoctetes  in  409  B.C., 
and  the  Orestes  of  Euripides  in  408.  The  life  of 
Athens  was  peculiarly  calculated  to  encourage  intel- 

31 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

lectual  activity.  The  distinction  between  rich  and 
poor  raised  up  no  social  barrier,  and  the  needy  were 
always  welcomed  by  their  more  fortunate  countrymen 
if  they  only  displayed  some  slight  signs  of  intelligence. 
From  morning  to  night  everybody  was  out-of-doors, 
and  it  was  in  the  street  and  public  places  that  there 
was  a  constant  interchange  of  ideas.  The  dialogues 
of  Plato  show  how  keen  was  speculation  in  every  de- 
partment, how  fervent  was  the  thirst  for  knowledge. 
These  were  the  times  when  Protagoras  and  Gorgias 
came  to  Athens  and  held  debates  with  Socrates,  the 
culminating  figure  of  the  age  of  Pericles.  We  shall 
have  occasion  to  speak  later  of  the  great  artistic  works 
with  which  Athens  was  filled  at  this  time. 

Could  we  look  back  three  hundred  years  and  see 
the  spot  on  which  Rome  now  stands,  there  would  be 
little  in  the  sight  which  would  lead  us  to  suspect 
that  we  were  contemplating  the  future  capital  of  the 
world.  A  low  group  of  hills,  round  which  the  yellow 
Tiber  sweeps  with  a  bend  some  fifteen  miles  before 
reaching  the  sea,  and  about  their  foot  a  sodden  swamp 
from  which  the  fever-laden  miasma  cannot  have  failed 
to  work  havoc  in  the  ranks  of  the  early  settlers.  Such 
is  no  site  to  allure  the  wanderer  seeking  for  a  home, 
and  we  can  well  imagine  that  the  primitive  inhabitant 
did  not  take  up  his  abode  thereon  as  the  outcome  of 
his  own  untrammelled  choice.  For  the  lowlander,  har- 
ried from  the  plains  by  the  forays  of  his  predatory 
neighbors,  it  is  an  ideal  haven  of  refuge  to  which  to 
fly  in  stress  of  need,  and  an  ideal  coign  of  vantage, 

32 


CENTRES   OE   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

whence  his  eye  might  scan  the  undulating  campagna, 
and  from  which  he  could  swoop  down  to  exact  re- 
prisals. The  origin  of  Rome  is  wrapped  about  in  the 
same  fog  of  uncertainties  which  veils  the  beginnings 
of  Athens,  yet  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  Eternal  City 
was  of  humble  parentage.  In  the  passion  for  disci- 
pline and  the  stern  law  which  she  created,  can  we  not 
yet  discern  the  strict  and  severe  order  which  had  to 
crush  out  all  dissension  in  a  banditti  fastness  ?  Why 
seek  to  disprove  the  legend  which  tells  of  the  asylum 
opened  on  the  Palatine  Hill  to  harbor  the  persecuted 
stranger,  whether  innocent  or  criminal?  Already 
in  the  prehistoric  days  Rome  was  building  up  those 
ideals  which  were  to  make  her  mistress  of  the  West- 
ern world.  We  shall  see  how  different  were  her  ideals 
from  those  which  animated  the  cities  of  Greece. 

Unfavorable  as  the  position  at  first  glance  might 
appear  to  be,  it  yet  contained  the  elements  of  success. 
As  the  Greek  colonists  along  the  western  and  south- 
ern Italian  coasts  began  to  extend  their  relations  into 
their  hinterland,  carrying  their  products  into  Etruria, 
the  main  trade-route  would  naturally  seek  to  cross  the 
Tiber  somewhere  near  Rome.  We  know  the  impor- 
tance which  attached  to  bridge-building  among  the 
ancient  Romans ;  the  name  has  survived  in  the  pontif- 
ical title,  if  the  thought  thereof  has  been  lost.  Cara- 
vans of  merchandise  must  have  been  unceasingly  on 
the  come  and  go  across  the  Pons  Sublicius  on  their 
way  to  and  from  Caere,  the  commercial  city  of  Etruria. 
The  inhospitable  sea-coast  would  render  the  land  route 

8  33 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

preferable  to  any  other,  even  should  it  be  more  costly. 
Later,  no  doubt,  light  vessels  would  adventure  them- 
selves across  the  sand-bar  of  Ostia  and  up  the  Tiber. 
A  non-peasant  population,  principally  aliens,  soon 
settled  at  Rome.  The  increasing  opulence  of  Rome, 
and  her  cramped  position,  hemmed  in  by  a  number  of 
Latin  cities,  whose  hostility  was  now  embittered  by 
jealousy,  initiated  the  struggle  which  made  her  the 
mistress  of  Italy.  Thenceforth  the  intervals  of  peace 
were  to  be  few  and  far  between.  Already  Rome  had 
grasped  her  ideal  of  empire-building,  and  was  begin- 
ning to  assimilate  her  conquests  with  a  completeness 
and  rapidity  which  were  stupendous. 

In  the  short  interval  between  the  Italian  wars  and 
the  opening  of  the  struggle  against  Carthage,  every- 
thing that  we  regard  as  essentially  Roman  was  in  full 
development.  The  foundations  of  Roman  law  were 
laid  which  were  to  remain  unshaken  till  this  very 
day;  the  great  colonizing  policy,  far-seeing,  severe 
when  severity  was  called  for,  and  mild  when  expedi- 
ent, was  tested  and  found  good.  In  art,  letters,  and 
science  Rome  never  approached  Greece.  In  all  these 
spheres  of  thought  the  Roman  was  unimaginative. 
Roman  art  must  be  sought  in  her  great  roads  of  mor- 
tised stone,  in  adamantine  buildings,  and,  above  all,  in 
the  arch  which  Rome  created,  if  not  for  beauty,  yet  for 
utility.  Roman  art  must  be  sought  for  in  her  laws  and 
institutions;  here  it  is  that  the  vigor  and  initiative  of 
the  Roman  mind  are  felt.  Rome  did  not  remain  insen- 
sible to  the  higher,  if  not  always  practical,  flights  of 

34 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

human  intellect.  Greek  art  was  studied  and  assimi- 
lated with  fervor,  but  never  carried  further.  We  have 
Roman  statues  which  are  equal  to  the  Greek  in  light- 
ness of  touch  and  technical  execution,  but  the  inspira- 
tion is  Greek.  It  is  imitation,  not  originality.  ISTo 
doubt  the  encounter  with  Greek  art,  which  had  reached 
perfection  before  Rome  had  emerged  from  barbarism, 
must  have  had  a  paralyzing  effect  upon  the  would-be 
Eoman  artist.  Latin  literature,  which  was  gradually 
beginning  to  flow  slowly  in  channels  of  its  own,  is 
parched  up  at  the  outset,  and  Greek  letters  take  its 
place.  Rome  never  developed  a  middle  class  in  the 
sense  that  such  a  class  existed  in  Greece.  The  early 
influx  of  slave  labor  and  the  innate  contempt  of  the 
Roman  for  handicraft  had  much  to  do  with  the  ab- 
sence of  a  bourgeoisie  proper,  and  we  have  seen  that 
it  is  from  this  class  that  art  has  always  sprung.  A 
slave-born  art  is  impossible.  It  is  a  striking  fact 
that,  with  barely  an  exception,  not  one  of  the  names 
of  honor  in  the  annals  of  Roman  literature  is  that  of 
a  native  Roman.  All  her  authors,  except  Crcsar  and 
Lucretius,  are  provincials,  so  that  we  may  with  jus- 
tice speak  rather  of  a  Latin  than  of  a  Roman  litera- 
ture. The  first  Latin  literary  works  are  those  of  a 
Greek  slave  transplanted  to  Rome  after  the  capture  of 
Tarentum. 

But  Rome  was  impatient  of  unofficial  initiative. 
The  great  personalities  of  early  Rome  are  her  magis- 
trates, her  consuls,  her  pra3tors,  her  qusestors.  What 
particular  family  name  that  magistrate  may   have 

35 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

borne  is  not  material.  Such  a  man  was  consul ;  not  a 
particular  member  of  a  particular  gens,  however  dis- 
tinguished that  gens  might  be.  He  impersonated 
some  state  prerogative,  and  with  that  his  own  initia- 
tive was  merged.  Outside  these  state  personalities, 
individuality  was  not  encouraged.  It  was  better  for 
the  Roman  burgess  to  be  as  like  his  fellow-burgess 
as  possible.  Rome  was  organized  upon  a  military 
system  which  shows  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of 
Greece,  where  all  is  overflowing  with  exuberant  vital- 
ity coming  from  unofficial  or  private  sources. 

Florence  is  the  chief  centre  from  which  the  blaze 
of  the  Renaissance  radiated  over  all  Europe,  yet  the 
physical  surroundings  of  the  city  do  not  mark  her  out 
as  destined  to  play  the  principal  role  in  the  regenera- 
tion of  humanity.  She  was,  indeed,  little  indebted  to 
nature.  Her  beautiful  position  on  the  Arno,  backed 
by  the  Apennines,  lent  lustre  to  her  glory,  but  did 
little  in  helping  her  to  acquire  pre-eminence.  The 
plains  were  no  doubt  fertile,  but  her  inhabitants  never 
turned  the  soil  to  full  account,  and  when  some  of  the 
richer  capitalists,  in  the  days  of  the  city's  incipient 
decline,  invested  their  money  in  land  and  essayed 
farming  on  a  considerable  scale,  the  enterprise  either 
ended  in  failure  or  was  early  abandoned.  Florence 
did  not  enjoy  the  sanitary  advantages  of  modern 
times;  malaria,  military  fever,  typhoid,  did  not  en- 
courage the  citizen  to  settle  in  the  plains  rather  than 
on  the  more  salubrious  heights  of  Fiesole.  The 
plague  visited  Florence  in  1347  with  even  more  disas- 

36 


CENTKES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

trous  effect  than  other  towns  of  northern  Italy.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  inhabitants  are  estimated  to  have  per- 
ished. A  famous  Florentine  doctor  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  T.  Targioni  Tozetti,  expresses  his  sorrow, 
from  the  health  point  of  view,  that  the  design  of 
destroying  Florence  (in  1760)  was  not  carried  into 
effect,  and  the  inhabitants  were  not  transplanted  to 
Empoli.  The  mean  temperature  is  exceedingly  high 
and  liable  to  sudden  and  extreme  variations.  The 
Florentine  has  not  the  sturdy  build  of  the  Sienese 
or  Milanese. 

Well  on  into  the  beginning  of  the  Middle  Ages  the 
historical  role  of  Florence  was  insignificant.  Under 
the  Roman  Empire,  Fiesole  (Fresuhe)  was  the  only 
place  of  importance.  After  the  fall  of  Rome  the  route 
from  north  to  south  changed.  The  Roman  had  been 
accustomed  to  pass  by  way  of  Ancona,  but  in  the 
Middle  Ages  the  armies  of  invasion  crossed  the  Apen- 
nines at  Florence  and  marched  by  way  of  Siena  and 
Viterbo  upon  Rome.  The  geographical  position  of 
Florence  became,  in  consequence,  one  of  first-rate  im- 
portance. As  a  commercial  centre  its  development 
was  rapid.  The  continual  going  and  coming  of  for- 
eigners of  many  nations  suggested  to  the  Florentine 
new  vistas  of  business  ambition.  He  originated  new 
systems  of  business  methods,  and  began  to  feel  the 
force  of  capital  and  to  inaugurate  a  new  era  thereby  in 
industrial  production.  The  opulence  to  which  Flor- 
ence rose  in  a  very  short  space  of  time  could  not  but 
raise  her  a  swarm  of  foes,  while  she  herself  was  not 

37 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

insensible  to  the  desire  of  extending  her  power  at  the 
expense  of  her  economic  rivals.  Hence  these  inter- 
minable struggles  with  Pisa,  with  Lncca,  with  Siena, 
Arezzo,  San  Miniato,  and  Fiesole.  Many  points  of  re- 
semblance with  Athenian  history  will  at  once  strike 
the  most  casual  observer.  The  banditti  of  the  neigh- 
boring regions  had  to  be  disciplined  by  force  and  com- 
pelled to  take  up  their  abode  in  Florence.  Hardly 
for  a  year  together  was  the  city  quit  of  intestine  dis- 
sensions. At  one  time  it  was  the  massacre  of  the 
Paterini  (1240),  at  another  the  secular  struggle  of 
Guelph  against  Ghibelline.  The  predominant  faction 
drives  its  rival  into  exile,  until  the  vanquished,  gather- 
ing forces  abroad,  find  means  of  re-establishing  them- 
selves and  reversing  the  process.  Artisan  riots,  often 
very  serious  affairs  like  that  of  the  Ciompi  (1378), 
are  not  of  rare  occurrence.  We  can  imagine  what  the 
every-day  life  of  Florence  must  have  been  when  eleven 
years  of  comparative  tranquillity  are  considered  as 
something  abnormal  (1379-1390). 

The  struggles  of  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  attained 
their  maximum  of  fury  during  the  course  of  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries;  yet  it  was  precisely 
at  this  epoch  that  Florence  stood  at  the  height  of 
artistic  glory.  Dante  took  part  in  several  expeditions 
against  the  Ghibellines  of  Pisa,  Arezzo,  and  Bologna. 
His  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Campaldino  (1289),  in 
which  the  Arezzo  Ghibellines  were  crushed,  was  con- 
spicuous, and  he  bore  himself  with  valor  at  the  assault 
of  Caprona  (1290),  when  that  city  was  wrested  from 

38 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

Pisa.  The  quarrels  of  the  Guelphs  among  themselves, 
the  struggle  of  the  Bianchi  against  the  Neri,  drove  him 
abroad  (1302).  It  is  impossible  to  describe  in  detail 
the  part  played  by  many  another  great  Florentine  in 
the  fortunes  of  his  mother  city,  but  let  dates  speak  for 
themselves.  Cimabue  the  painter  lived  from  1240  to 
1302;  Giotto  the  painter  (1276-1336)  was  the  friend 
of  Dante,  who  devotes  several  stanzas  of  the  "  Divina 
Commedia  "  to  his  praises ;  not  to  mention  many  others 
who  belong  to  this  period. 

In  Florence  feudal  ideas  of  nobility  met  with  little 
respect.  Work  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  enter- 
prise in  business  brought  esteem  and  honor.  Growing 
affluence  created  a  leisured  bourgeoisie.  Of  this  class 
came  Boccaccio,  who  was  the  son  of  a  merchant,  and 
was  himself  put  to  work  in  counting-houses  at  Flor- 
ence, Naples,  and  Paris.  And  how  many  another 
great  man  of  the  Florentine  school  of  art  and  letters 
went  through  the  same  training.  It  was  under  free 
institutions  that  Florence  attained  the  maximum  of 
her  grandeur.  The  impulse  of  those  times  still  pro- 
duced many  great  men  under  the  Medici.  We  need 
only  mention  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  Machiavelli,  and 
Michael  Angelo,  but  from  that  time  the  glory  of 
Florence  began  to  wane. 

Of  Paris  little  need  be  said,  save  that  its  position 
was  none  of  the  most  favorable  for  the  founding  of  a 
great  city.  Throughout  the  early  Middle  Ages  Paris 
remained  a  town  of  comparatively  small  importance, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  royal  power  began  to  assert 

39 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

itself  over  the  surrounding  feudal  nobility  that  the 
city  began  to  raise  its  head.  Henceforth  Paris  was 
to  share  the  good  or  evil  fortune  of  the  King  of 
France,  and  it  was  when  the  monarchical  power,  after 
long  years  of  strife,  succeeded  in  establishing  its  su- 
preme right,  that  Paris  became  the  focus  of  French 
thought  and  civilization.  Naturally  Paris  is  not  at 
all  the  centre  of  France,  the  true  central  point  lying 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Bourges. 

One  salient  mark  of  intellectual  inferiority  charac- 
terizes almost  every  one  of  the  nations  of  whose  ma- 
terial success  we  spoke  in  the  last  chapter.  The  want 
of  an  alphabetical  system  of  writing  was  as  fatal  to 
their  intellectual  progress  as  its  absence  was  the 
stamp  of  their  intellectual  stagnation.  Of  all  these 
nations,  the  Egyptians  came  nearest  to  a  complete 
phonetic  system,  and  it  appears  almost  inconceivable 
that  they  should  have  hovered  for  thousands  of  years 
upon  the  brink  of  that  momentous  discovery  without 
ever  achieving  it.  They  were  within  a  step  of  realiz- 
ing an  alphabet,  but  that  step  they  were  never  able  to 
make.  The  hieroglyphic  script,  which  shows  but  lit- 
tle advance  through  all  the  known  periods,  was  even 
in  its  highest  development  only  a  conglomeration  of 
ideographic,  syllabic,  and  alphabetic  elements.  The 
difficulties  which  are  entailed  in  mastering  so  compli- 
cated a  contrivance  must  have  always  caused  it  to 
remain  the  prerogative  of  an  extremely  limited  section 
of  the  community,  and  it  was  consequently  wholly  un- 
available as  a  medium  of  general  culture.     Many  of 

40 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

the  symbols  which  we  employ  to-day  are  no  doubt 
descendants,  battered  out  of  all  shape  and  recogni- 
tion by  the  wear  and  tear  of  centuries,  of  some  of 
the  ancient  ideograms  of  Egypt  and  Chaldrea.  The 
erudite  labors  of  German  philologists  have  succeeded 
in  establishing  in  many  instances  a  practically  un- 
broken genealogical  tree  of  our  modern  characters,  but 
this  philological  method  of  research  is  liable  to  lead  to 
serious  misapprehensions.  It  is  quite  unjustifiable  to 
conclude  that,  because  one  or  two  of  the  signs  are 
Egyptian,  therefore  the  alphabet  was  derived  from 
Egyptian  hieroglyphs.  Whence  the  symbols  were  bor- 
rowed is  absolutely  immaterial.  The  fact  remains 
that  the  Egyptian  was  never  able  thoroughly  to  realize 
the  restricted  number  of  sounds  in  speech.  He  was 
quite  unable  to  grasp  that  the  whole  gamut  of  ele- 
mentary sounds  which  his  tongue  articulated  did  not 
outnumber  thirty  at  the  most.  This  brilliant  generali- 
zation was  to  be  made  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  their 
traditional  claim  to  this  high  honor  has  never  been 
seriously  shaken,  in  spite  of  the  learned  disquisitions 
of  Dr.  Hugo  Winckler. 

A  homely  comparison  will  perhaps  help  to  enforce 
the  absurdity  of  ascribing  the  invention  of  the  alpha- 
bet to  the  Egyptians.  It  is  well  known  that  prisoners 
in  convict  establishments,  no  matter  of  what  country, 
are  able  to  communicate  with  one  another  by  a  series 
of  preconcerted  tapping  signals.  For  instance,  any 
arbitrary  combination  of  short  and  long  raps,  such 

as ^    might    express    some    particular    mean- 

41 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

ing  according  to  prearranged  plan.  It  would  be, 
however,  quite  ridiculous  to  conclude  from  this  that 
our  convict  was  the  originator  of  the  Morse  system  of 
electric  telegraphy,  because  in  that  system,  as  is  well 
known,  letters  are  signalled  in  the  same  manner  by  a 
succession  of  long  or  short  raps. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overrate  the  importance  of 
the  Phoenician  discovery.  At  one  bound  man  was 
given  the  most  perfect  instrument  for  recording  his 
thought.  The  Egyptians  must  have  had  every  oppor- 
tunity of  profiting  by  the  Phoenician  invention,  but 
the  extent  to  which  conservatism  and  conventionalism 
had  taken  hold  of  them  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they 
never  adopted  a  truly  alphabetical  writing.  Egyptian 
hieroglyphs  were,  however,  an  immeasurable  advance 
upon  cuneiform  writing,  and  in  comparison  with  both 
the  Mexican  picture  records  were  absolutely  primi- 
tive. We  have  nothing  to  show  that  the  Mexican  had 
ever  reached  even  the  first  stage  of  phonetic  writing. 
His  pictures  bore  an  arbitrary  and  conventional  ideo- 
graphic sense  which  was  in  no  way  related  to  the 
sound.  The  practice  of  such  a  contrivance  necessi- 
tated years  of  labor  with  an  excellent  memory  to  boot, 
and  had  not  very  much  to  recommend  it  above  oral 
tradition.  Many  great  authorities  assert  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  adapt  any  alphabetical  system  to  the 
requirements  of  Chinese;  if  that  is  the  case,  the  Chi- 
nese nation  has  an  insuperable  barrier  in  the  way  of 
its  future  progress.  A  system  of  writing  which  entails 
not  only  a  good  memory  and  skilful  hand,  but  also 

42 


CENTRES   OF   NATIONAL   SUCCESS 

compels  a  man  to  spend  the  best  years,  or  at  least  the 
most  receptive  years,  of  his  life  in  its  acquisition, 
can  never  serve  as  the  medium  of  a  high  culture.  It 
need  hardly  be  mentioned  that  the  quipu,  or  Peruvian 
thread  writing,  if  writing  it  may  be  called,  though  its 
secret  has  been  lost,  can  have  been  little  better  than  a 
memoria  technica. 


Ill 

SUCCESS    IN    IMPEKIALISM.— I 

Some  nations  succeed  in  bringing  a  greater  or  lesser  number 
of  people  under  their  rule.  Such  are  the  Persians,  the 
Mongols,  the  Macedonians,  the.  Romans.  Distinction  be- 
tween these  nations:  (a)  some  (examples)  mere  brute  con- 
querors, establishing  tyrannies,  not  states;  (6)  others  (ex- 
amples) establishing  not  mere  conquests,  but  states  proper. 

The  next  variety  of  success  coming  under  our  con- 
sideration is  political,  or  rather  the  success  experi- 
enced by  some  nations  in  bringing  a  lesser  or  greater 
number  of  other  nations  under  their  dominion.  When 
the  number  of  nations  subdued  is  large,  or  when  the 
territory  acquired  is  extensive,  it  is  generally  cus- 
tomary to  give  these  conquests  the  title  of  Empire. 
We  shall  have  occasion  to  observe  that  empires  have 
differed  widely  not  only  in  quantity,  but  in  quality, 
and  with  this  object  we  shall  select  some  of  the  most 
typical  examples  of  empire-building,  it  being  im- 
possible within  so  narrow  a  compass  to  enter  into 
exhaustive  descriptions  of  all  the  imperial  states 
which  have  risen  into  eminence  and  fallen  into  de- 
cline during  the  world's  history.  The  selection  of 
a  few  salient  types  cannot  fail  to  be  more  profitable 
and  instructive. 

44 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEKIALISM 

At  the  very  outset  we  cannot  help  being  profoundly 
struck  by  certain  general  features  which  invariably 
characterize  the  growth  of  these  empires,  and,  among 
other  things,  we  cannot  help  wondering  at  the  facility 
and  comparative  rapidity  with  which  these  vast  terri- 
torial acquisitions  have  been  accumulated  when  com- 
pared with  the  slow  and  painful  steps  by  which  the 
governing  nation  has  often  attained  its  own  national 
unity.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  far  greater  difficulty 
to  weld  together  a  few  small  but  highly  individual- 
ized tribes  or  nations,  such,  for  instance,  as  constitute 
the  countries  of  modern  Europe,  than  to  pile  together 
an  immense  agglomeration  of  land,  peopled  by  races 
whose  conscience  of  their  national  entity  is  either  un- 
developed or  degenerated. 

The  whole  of  the  Eoman  Empire  was  constructed 
within  the  short  space  of  a  couple  of  centuries,  whilst 
the  unity  of  modern  Italy  has  only  been  reached  after 
fifteen  centuries  of  struggle,  and  at  the  price  of  un- 
told misery  and  bloodshed. 

When  we  know  the  history  of  one  Oriental  dynasty, 
a  slight  change  of  names  will  allow  us  to  reconstruct 
the  history  of  any  other  with  almost  mathematical 
precision.  In  every  case  some  warlike,  courageous 
chief  puts  himself  at  the  head  of  a  needy  but  no  less 
courageous  tribe,  and  hurls  himself  against  the  al- 
ready decadent  structure  of  the  empire  to  which  he  is 
nominally  a  subject.  The  empire  promptly  collapses, 
and  the  insurgent  chieftain  possesses  himself  of  the 
inheritance  of  his  sometime  masters,  and  becomes  the 

45 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

founder  of  a  new  empire,  which  in  its  turn  is  doomed 
to  a  similar  end.  Such  is  the  history  of  Cyrus  and  of 
the  rise  of  the  Persian  dominion.  Of  the  early  doings 
of  Cyrus  we  know  but  little,  save  that  at  the  head  of 
the  malcontent  Persians,  who  chafed  under  the  yoke 
of  the  Medes,  he  defeated  these  latter  in  a  couple  of 
battles,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  Medic  Empire 
(544).  Carried  on  by  the  impetus  of  his  success,  he 
proceeded  next  to  demolish  the  kingdom  of  Lydia. 
Croesus  was  beaten  in  the  Thymbrsean  plains  and 
taken  alive  at  Sardis  (544)  ;  Babylon  was  the  next  to 
fall  (538),  and  with  it  all  its  possessions  passed  under 
Persian  rule. 

Macedonia  was  far  behind  the  rest  of  Greece  in 
point  of  view  of  intellectual  culture,  and,  politically 
speaking,  the  part  played  by  the  country  is  insignifi- 
cant down  to  the  time  of  King  Philip  II.,  in  the 
fourth  century  b.c.  It  was  through  the  personality  of 
Philip  alone  that  Macedonia  came  to  the  forefront  of 
Hellenic  affairs.  In  a  short  reign  of  twenty-three 
years,  by  dint  of  sheer  political  genius,  he  raised  his 
country  to  the  position  of  arbiter,  or  rather  dictator, 
over  the  whole  of  Greece,  with  the  exception  of  Sparta. 
As  Philip  had  possessed  political  ability  of  the  first 
order,  his  son  Alexander  had  pre-eminent  military 
talent,  and  we  shall  see  that,  as  the  regeneration  of 
Macedonia  was  entirely  the  personal  achievement  of 
Philip,  so  the  conquest  of  a  vast  Oriental  dominion 
by  Alexander  was  exclusively  the  outcome  of  that 
monarch's  individual  ambition.     Alexander  is  in  no 

46 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

way  a  personification  of  Greek  or  Macedonian  aspira- 
tions. 

Philip  had  grasped  one  fact  of  immeasurable  impor- 
tance, and  upon  that  fact  he  had  based  the  whole  of 
his  far-reaching  policy.  This  fact  was  the  absolute 
incapability  of  the  Greek  states  for  concerted  action. 
The  grandiose  raid  of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks  right 
into  the  heart  of  the  Persian  dominions  had  revealed 
the  impotence  of  the  Persian  Empire.  This  was  the 
lesson  which  Alexander  took  to  heart.  It  is  not  at  all 
incredible  that  Philip  may  have  conceived  the  plan 
of  overthrowing  the  power  of  Persia.  .At  all  events, 
Alexander  had  learnt  the  lesson  well  before  he  had 
reached  his  twentieth  year.  After  disposing  of  a  few 
insurrectionary  movements  at  home,  he  hastened  to 
put  his  plan  to  the  test.  In  little  more  than  twelve 
years  Alexander  had  built  up  an  empire  in  which  the 
dominions  of  Persia  were  only  the  major  part. 

Leaving  Pella  in  the  spring  of  334,  at  the  head  of 
an  army  of  30,000  infantry  and  5000  cavalry,  Alex- 
ander marched  by  way  of  Thrace  and  the  Chersonese 
to  the  Hellespont,  which  he  crossed  at  Eleontes. 
Thence  the  route  lay  across  the  coast  of  Asia  Mi- 
nor, via  Abydos  and  Lampsacus.  The  Persian  army 
which  sought  to  dispute  his  passage  of  the  Granicus 
was  utterly  defeated  (May  or  June,  334)  in  the  battle 
of  that  name.  In  two  years  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor, 
as  far  as  Cappadocia  and  Oilicia,  lay  at  the  feet  of 
Alexander,  and  he  was  in  a  position  to  push  forward. 

The  Persians  had  again  occupied  an  important 
47 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

strategic  point,  where  the  road  lay  squeezed  between 
mountain  and  sea  at  Issus.  This  time  the  Persian 
army,  reinforced  by  Greek  mercenaries,  who  alone 
considerably  outnumbered  the  force  of  Alexander, 
was  commanded  by  the  Persian  King  Darius  in  per- 
son. It  was  again  routed  (October,  333),  and  Alex- 
ander's road  lay  clear  into  Syria  and  Phoenicia.  Tyre 
fell  after  a  desperate  resistance  of  seven  months;  the 
siege  of  Gaza  occupied  two  more  months  (November, 
332)  ;  and  Alexander,  after  thus  mastering  Palestine, 
was  enabled  to  proceed  to  the  annexation  of  Egypt, 
which  offered  no  great  difficulties.  At  this  time  took 
place  the  foundation  of  Alexandria.  On  his  return 
from  Egypt,  and  having,  by  the  conquest  of  western 
Asia,  assured  his  base  and  communications,  Alexan- 
der turned  to  the  heart  of  the  Persian  Empire.  Not 
far  from  Nineveh,  at  Gaugamela,  he  again  encounter- 
ed Darius  at  the  head  of  overwhelming  numbers. 
Alexander's  consummate  strategy  and  disciplined 
troops  once  more  secured  him  a  crushing  victory 
(October  1,  331),  and  Darius  fled  to  the  mountains, 
to  be  butchered  by  the  revolted  satrap  Bessus.  Baby- 
lon, Susa,  Persepolis,  next  fell  to  the  conqueror,  and 
the  latter  city  was  burnt  to  the  ground.  Alexander, 
moving  with  an  incredible  rapidity,  secured  all  the 
provinces  of  the  Persian  Empire  from  the  Caspian 
to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Indian  Ocean.  He  penetrated 
into  the  depths  of  Russian  Turkestan,  where  he  found- 
ed Alexandria  Eschate.  By  this  time  the  mutinous 
attitude  of  the  troops  was  growing  more  and  more 

48 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

menacing;  but  Alexander,  still  hankering  for  fresh 
conquests,  pushed  on  towards  India.  On  the  Indus 
he  defeated  King  Porus,  the  ruler  of  a  great  kingdom 
occupying  what  is  now  known  as  the  Punjaub.  Alex- 
ander was  now  bent  on  reaching  the  Ganges,  and  the 
Sutlej  was  already  behind  him,  when  his  men  cate- 
gorically declined  to  move  a  step  further,  and  he  was 
compelled,  bitterly  unwilling,  to  retire  to  the  delta 
of  the  Indus  (325),  whence  half  his  army  were 
shipped  by  sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tigris,  while  he 
himself  returned  by  land  to  Babylon. 

In  the  early  summer  of  323  Alexander  fell  a  victim 
to  an  attack  of  fever,  and  his  plans  of  fresh  conquest 
perished  with  him;  and  as  he  left  no  successor,  the 
empire  which  he  had  built  up  fell  a  prey  to  internal 
dissension,  and  in  no  long  time  collapsed. 

It  is  a  widely  prevalent  opinion  that  to  Alexander 
is  due  the  Hellenization  of  Asia,  so  far  as  Helleniza- 
tion  ever  did  lay  hold  of  Asia.  To  Alexander  also 
have  been  attributed,  on  what  authority  it  is  difficult 
to  divine,  the  most  elaborate  projects  of  interior  ad- 
ministration. It  would  be  hard  to  find  in  the  life  of 
Alexander  anything  that  could  justify  us  in  the  hy- 
pothesis that  he  was  contemplating  anything  like 
an  organized  government  of  his  unwieldy  dominions. 
Had  he  survived,  we  can  only  suppose  that  he  would 
have  endeavored  to  indefinitely  extend  the  sphere  of 
his  conquests.  At  the  moment  of  his  death  he  was 
preparing  for  the  subjugation  of  Arabia,  and,  from 
his  private  correspondence  with  Craterus,  we  learn 

4  49 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

that  he  had  really  conceived  the  ideal  of  universal  do- 
minion. It  seems  most  unlikely  that  he  would  have 
materially  interfered  with  the  old  system  of  things 
which  had  existed  under  the  Persian  rule,  except  in 
so  far  as  his  iron  hand  would  have  insured  him  a 
greater  degree  of  respect  and  obedience  upon  the  part 
of  the  frequently  too  independent  satraps.  Alexander 
regarded  his  newly  acquired  possessions  as  important 
only  so  long  as  they  were  capable  of  supplying  him 
with  fresh  treasures  of  money  and  fresh  bodies  of 
recruits  wherewith  to  prosecute  his  grandiose  designs. 
His  whole  government  was  an  efficient  tax  -  levying 
machine. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Alexander  was  any  fer- 
vent admirer  of  Hellenic  institutions,  and  we  have  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  was  at  all  set  upon  intro- 
ducing such  institutions  into  Eastern  dominions.  He, 
on  the  contrary,  assumed  Oriental  habits  of  life  him- 
self, and,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  endeavored  to  induce 
his  principal  officers  to  follow  suit.  On  the  authority 
of  Plutarch,  we  learn  that  Alexander  consulted  Aris- 
totle upon  the  best  methods  to  follow  in  colonizing  his 
new  empire;  but  this  was,  no  doubt,  early  in  his  ca- 
reer, as  we  know  the  deep  hatred  which  he  conceived 
for  Aristotle  later  in  life. 

Nothing  can  be  more  striking  than  the  contrast 
between  the  Roman  conception  of  empire-building 
and  the  achievements  of  Alexander  the  Great.  In  the 
formation  of  the  Roman  Empire  individual  personal- 
ity has  had  very  little  share;  Rome  was  fortunate 

50 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEKIALISM 

from  time  to  time  in  the  possession  of  a  military  genius 
of  the  first  order ;  but  the  Roman  dominions  continued 
to  extend  with  amazing  rapidity,  no  matter  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  Roman  armies.  No  country  has 
ever  carried  out  an  imperial  ambition  with  such 
thoroughness,  for  in  the  Roman  Empire  our  admira- 
tion is  not  excited  by  the  marvellous  strategic  com- 
binations by  which  it  was  acquired,  so  much  as  by  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  newly  won  provinces  were 
absorbed  and  Romanized.  The  Roman  provincial  very 
soon  became  more  Roman  than  if  he  had  been  born 
within  the  circle  of  the  seven  hills.  All  the  great 
empires  of  the  East  have  succumbed,  leaving  scarcely 
a  trace  upon  the  countries  which  they  embrace.  The 
Roman  language  is  still  spoken  from  the  Black  Sea 
to  the  Atlantic,  and  all  the  invasions  of  barbaric 
hordes,  Slav,  Teutonic,  or  Turanian,  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  materially  reducing  its  domain.  Surely  it 
is  a  striking  fact  that  the  Greek,  who  was  intellectu- 
ally far  and  away  the  superior  of  the  Roman,  has 
not  succeeded  in  imposing  his  tongue  upon  a  single 
non-Hellenic  nation,  while  Spain  within  the  second 
century  of  its  conquest  was  adding  such  names  as 
Seneca,  Lucan,  Martial,  and  Pomponius  Mela  to  the 
list  of  Roman  writers. 

We  cannot  explain  Roman  success  by  the  superi- 
or military  organization  of  the  Roman  army.  As  a 
matter  of  historic  fact,  every  one  nation  of  antiquity 
had  the  honor  and  glory  of  having  signally  defeated 
Roman  armies  in  more  than  one  sanguinary  battle. 

51 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

We  should  far  rather  seek  a  solution  of  the  problem 
in  the  history  of  the  peoples  which  Rome  had  over- 
come. Aluch  light  will  be  shed  upon  the  subject  if 
we  compare  the  position  of  the  Romans  as  conquerors 
of  Europe  and  Asia  with  that  of  the  English  invaders 
of  India.  In  very  many  countries  which  the  Romans 
absorbed  there  was,  after  149  B.C.,  no  attempt  at  re- 
ally serious  opposition.  The  inhabitants  had  become 
nationally  eifete  after  centuries  of  straggle  for  inde- 
pendence followed  by  a  period  of  pressing  and  tyran- 
nical misrule.  Except  in  Gaul,  which  gave  serious 
trouble,  but  was  unable  to  resist  from  want  of  any 
stable  unity,  the  Roman  dominion  succeeded  to  some 
previous  foreign  rule.  Thus  Sicily  had  been  finally 
enervated  by  the  Punic  occupation;  when  the  Cartha- 
ginians were  turned  out,  the  country  showed  no  desire 
to  regain  independence.  Its  virility  had  been  stamp- 
ed out,  and  the  land,  no  doubt,  in  great  degree  de- 
populated. It,  at  all  events,  became  a  Roman  prov- 
ince without  demur.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
Asiatic  dominions  of  Rome,  except  Pontus,  under 
its  heroic  King  ]Mithridates,  of  those  in  Carthaginian 
Spain,  in  Macedonia,  after  some  serious  resistance, 
and  finally  in  Africa.  The  resisting  power  of  the 
native  had  spent  itself  in  vain  attempts  to  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  his  foreign  taskmasters ;  when,  by  foreign 
intervention,  the  taskmaster  was  finally  thrown  down, 
the  native  was  already  too  far  gone  to  reassert  himself. 
A-  he  would  fight  to  no  good  purpose  for  his  master, 
so  he  would  not  fight  to  recover  his  own  autonomy. 

52 


SUCCESS   IN  IMPERIALISM 

Rome's  peculiar  good  fortune  was  that  she  was  able  to 
avail  herself  of  precisely  the  moment  when  all  these 
nations  had  been  reduced  to  this  condition  of  effete- 
ness.  Surely  we  have  another  striking  proof  of  the 
state  of  the  enervation  of  these  people  in  the  fact  that, 
under  the  whole  long  period  of  comparatively  benefi- 
cent rule  which  they  enjoyed  under  Eoman  govern- 
ment, not  one  of  them  developed  above  the  dead  level 
of  mediocrity.  It  is,  moreover,  quite  out  of  the  ques- 
tion that  Eome  should  ever  have  succeeded  in  keeping 
down  the  immense  population  of  her  Empire,  however 
superior  may  have  been  her  military  system.  The 
Eoman  troops  of  occupation  were  but  as  a  drop  in  the 
ocean  among  the  native  inhabitants,  and  those  troops 
were  continually  engaged  in  border-wars  among  the 
tribes  which  were  always  endeavoring  to  overstep 
the  boundaries  of  the  Empire.  In  these  little  affairs 
Eoman  reverses  were  anything  but  exceptional;  yet 
the  subject  people  never  made  use  of  these  moments 
of  stress  and  trouble  to  strike  a  blow  for  themselves. 
A  map  of  the  military  organization  of  the  Empire  at 
the  end  of  the  first  century  a.d.  would  show  nearly  all 
the  legions  massed  in  the  frontier  states.  The  whole 
of  Spain  requires  but  one  legion;  in  Gaul,  south  of 
Paris,  there  is  not  a  Eoman  soldier,  but  all  along  the 
Rhine  and  Danube,  one  might  say,  with  little  ex- 
aggeration, that  the  garrisons  are  within  hail  of  one 
another.  The  reader  e'annol  fail  to  be  struck  by 
the  remarkable  similarity  of  affairs  in  modern  India. 
Here,  too,  the  English  rule  established  itself  with  the 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

greatest  facility  in  the  seat  of  the  Moghul  emperors. 
The  native  did  not  resist,  and  has  seldom  risen,  and 
the  famous  mutiny  itself,  rich  as  it  may  be  in  dra- 
matic and  heroic  incidents,  did  not  really  entail  any 
immense  exertions  to  blot  it  out.  Compare  the  num- 
ber of  troops  (450,000  British)  necessary  for  the 
pacification  of  the  small  Dutch  republics  of  South 
Africa,  and  of  those  which  were  requisite  to  quell  the 
Indian  mutiny  (125,000  British  only).  In  India  the 
population  has  lost  its  vitality,  and  in  India  the 
distribution  of  military  force  is  chiefly  towards  the 
northwest  frontier.  A  reverse  in  the  frontier  cam- 
paigns is  not  reflected  by  an  outbreak  in  the  rear  of 
the  British  line  of  defence.  We  leave  the  reader  to 
think  out  in  greater  detail  the  striking  points  of  coinci- 
dence with  which  the  above  comparison  teems. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  show  the  principal 
steps  by  which  Rome  achieved  the  subjugation  of  It- 
aly. The  era  of  her  territorial  expansion  and  foreign 
conquests  begins  with  the  close  of  the  first  Punic  war 
(264-241  b.c).  Sicily  was  now  Roman.  The  vic- 
tors, no  longer  fearing  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
Carthaginians,  who  were  exhausted  and,  moreover, 
in  great  difficulties  on  account  of  the  mutiny  of  their 
mercenary  troops,  made  use  of  the  most  flimsy  pre- 
text for  seizing  Sardinia  and  Corsica  (238)  ;  Demet- 
rius of  Pharus  and  Queen  Teuta  of  Scodra  (in  Dal- 
matia)  were  the  next  to  be  attacked.  These  two 
sovereigns  had  been  oppressing  a  number  of  Greek 
cities  along  the  Illyrian  coast,  which  finally  appealed 

54 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

to  Kome  and  were  taken  under  her  protectorate  (229- 
219  B.C.),  while  the  realms  of  Demetrius  were  an- 
nexed. From  225  to  222  the  Gauls  of  the  Po  Valley 
(Boii  and  Insubri)  were  brought  into  obedience,  al- 
though their  final  pacification  was  yet  to  be  the  work 
of  years.  The  Eoman  acquisitions  during  the  war  with 
Hannibal  (218-201)  were  of  far  greater  importance. 
Syracuse,  which  had  been  imprudent  enough  to  fight 
in  the  Carthaginian  rank,  was  conquered.  All  Punic  * 
possessions  in  Spain,  and  all  their  island  dominions 
between  Sicily  and  Spain,  were  surrendered  wholesale 
to  Rome.  The  definitive  subjugation  of  North  Spain 
cost  the  Eomans  another  seventy  years  of  hard  fight- 
ing against  the  wild  Celtiberian  guerillas.  In  197  B.C. 
King  Philip  of  Macedonia  was  compelled  to  make 
large  territorial  concessions,  which  the  Romans,  how- 
ever, did  not  add  to  the  Empire,  warned  as  they  were 
by  their  Spanish  experience  of  the  cost  and  unprofita- 
bility  of  militarily  occupying  a  broken,  mountainous 
country.  The  same  policy  was  observed  in  190,  when 
Antiochus  was  forced  to  cede  all  his  lands  west  of 
the  Taurus.  The  Romans  divided  them  among  their 
friends  and  allies  of  Pergamum  and  Rhodes.  Mace- 
donia again  gave  trouble  from  171  to  168,  when  it 
was  finally  crushed  and  partitioned  out  into  four  con- 
federate republics,  the  inhabitants  at  the  same  time 
undergoing  disarmament  and  being  constrained  to  pay 
tribute.  It  was  not  until  after  the  insurrection  of 
146  b.c.  that  the  Romans  saw  that  if  Macedonia  was 
to  be  held  at  all  it  must  be  held  as  a  Roman  province. 

55 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

The  same  years  which  witnessed  the  incorporation  of 
Macedonia  and  Achaia  beheld  the  fall  of  Carthage 
after  a  heroic  defence  of  three  years.  Home  thus  ac- 
quired her  great  Province  of  Africa. 

The  Celtiberians  who  had  struggled  against  sub- 
jection under  the  brave  chieftainship  of  Viriathus, 
who  fell  a  victim  to  Roman  treachery  and  was  assassi- 
nated, were  finally  defeated  in  133  at  ISTumantia,  and 
Spain  was  thus  Roman  except  the  northwest  corner 
of  Lusitania  and  Galicia.  Attalus,  King  of  Perga- 
mum,  had  received  the  lion's  share  of  the  spoil  when 
King  Antiochus  had  been  crushed  by  the  Romans 
at  Chseronea  (191)  and  Magnesia  (189).  In  the 
same  year  that  Numantia  fell,  Attalus  died,  be- 
queathing all  his  dominions,  for  want  of  heirs  of  his 
body,  to  the  Roman  Senate.  The  Romans,  who  were 
still  opposed  to  extending  their  dominions  beyond 
their  then  bounds,  would  not  accept  the  legacy  in  its 
entirety.  Several  of  the  Pergamean  provinces  were 
abandoned  to  native  sovereigns,  the  Romans  only 
occupying  the  coast  district,  Thrace,  Mysia,  Lydia, 
and  Caria,  which  last  country  had  for  some  time 
enjoyed  a  quasi-independence.  The  Romans  were 
thus  in  possession  of  considerable  territories  at  either 
end  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  the  connecting  links 
were  missing,  and  their  dominion  was  necessarily  de- 
pendent upon  their  maritime  supremacy.  The  Ro- 
mans, launched  now  upon  a  career  of  imperial  policy, 
were  compelled,  from  mere  self-preservation,  to  con- 
solidate their  possessions.     Called  to  the  aid  of  the 

5G 


SUCCESS   IN  IMPERIALISM 

Marseillais,  who  were  with  difficulty  holding  their 
ground  against  Celts  of  the  Rhone  Valley,  the  Ro- 
mans, after  defeating  the  aggressors  in  121,  estab- 
lished themselves  all  along  the  seaboard,  and  found- 
ed two  important  colonies  —  Narbo  (Narbonne)  and 
Aquse  Sextia3  (Aix-en-Provence).  Spain  was  then 
connected  with  Italy  by  the  Via  2Emilia. 

The  power  of  Rome  at  sea  was  seriously  jeopard- 
ized by  the  growth  of  piracy,  and  buccaneers  made 
frequent  and  unavenged  descents  upon  the  Roman 
watering-places  in  the  Campania.  M.  Antonius,  who 
was  intrusted  (103)  with  the  suppression  of  this 
nuisance,  added  Pamphilia,  Pisidia,  and  Phrygia  to 
the  Roman  possessions  in  Asia  Minor.  Further  lega- 
cies brought  Rome  the  Cyrenaica  (96),  and  Bithynia 
in  74,  but  this  latter  bequest  entailed  a  considerable 
war  with  King  Mithridates.  The  Romans  suffered 
many  severe  reverses  until  the  campaign  was  in- 
trusted to  Pompeius,  the  conqueror  of  Cilicia  (67). 
Mithridates,  after  a  severe  defeat  near  Sinope,  fled 
to  the  Caucasus,  where,  in  despair,  he  committed 
suicide.  The  whole  of  the  dead  monarch's  realms, 
save  Armenia,  fell  to  Rome,  which  thus  acquired 
Paphlagonia,  Syria,  and  Palestine.  Meanwhile  Crete 
had  been  occupied  (67)  by  Metellus,  and  Cyprus  was 
taken  in  58  by  Cato. 

The  already  enormous  territory  of  Rome  was  in 
the  next  few  years  doubled  by  the  conquests  of  Caesar 
in  Spain  and  Gaul.  In  Spain  the  whole  of  the  western 
coast  was  brought  into  subjection,  and  in  eight  years 

57 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

(58-51)  Gaul  as  far  as  the  Rhine  was  added  to  the 
Roman  Empire.  Marseilles,  which  had  served  the  en- 
emy, was  stripped  of  the  major  part  of  her  posses- 
sions, and  Numidia  in  Africa  was  likewise  reduced. 
Meanwhile  M.  Antonius,  Caesar's  second  in  command, 
had  been  making  himself  master  of  the  Dalmatian 
highlands.  Thus,  at  the  death  of  Caesar,  Rome  was 
mistress  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  Mediterranean 
basin.  The  work  of  organization  and  the  task  of 
rounding  off  these  extensive  dominions  fell  to  Caesar's 
successor,  Augustus.  The  campaign  against  Antonius 
and  Cleopatra  brought  him  Egypt.  The  reduction  of 
Rhaetia,  ISTorieum,  and  Pannonia  assured  the  Danube 
frontier.  In  25  B.C.,  by  the  will  of  King  Amyntas, 
Galatia  was  included  in  the  Empire.  Beyond  these 
limits  the  Empire  never  extended  permanently.  The 
signal  defeat  of  Varus  in  9  B.C.,  at  the  hands  of  the 
Germans  under  Arminius,  dissuaded  the  Romans 
from  attempting  the  serious  conquest  of  Germany, 
and  the  acquisitions  of  Trajan,  Dacia,  Arabia,  Ar- 
menia, and  Babylonia  were  either  abandoned  by  his 
successors,  as  in  the  case  of  the  last  two,  or  main- 
tained with  difficulty. 

Far  away  upon  the  northern  border  of  China,  in 
the  sterile,  inhospitable  land  about  the  Gobi  desert, 
there  have  dwelt,  time  out  of  mind,  a  number  of  no- 
madic tribes  of  Tartaric  people.  There  was  no  common 
bond  of  union  between  them,  and  only  when  some 
Khan  of  exceptional  personal  vigor  arose  were  a  few 
of  these  scattered  communities  brought  together  for  a 

58 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

short  time  and  forced  into  common  action.  Directly 
the  strong  hand  was  removed  there  "was  sure  to  be  a 
recrudescence  of  intestine  quarrelling.  It  was  under 
these  conditions  that  Temuchin,  who  was  later  to  wear 
the  proud  title  of  Gengiz  Khan,  was  born.  There  was 
but  little  in  the  circumstances  of  his  birth  which 
presaged  his  future  career.  On  the  banks  of  the  Onon 
Kiver,  in  some  rough  tent  of  a  Tartar  encampment, 
Temuchin  first  saw  the  light.  His  father  went  the 
way  of  most  Tartar  chieftains  and  was  killed  in  bat- 
tle, while  his  young  son  was  left  to  shift  for  himself. 
It  was  only  through  the  virile  energy  of  his  mother 
Yulun  that  his  rebellious  followers  were  kept  to  their 
allegiance. 

The  greater  part  of  Temuchin's  life  was  spent  in 
this  kind  of  petty  tribal  bickering ;  it  was  not  until  he 
was  fifty  years  of  age  that  he  felt  himself  strong 
enough  to  summon  a  "  kuraltar,"  a  solemn  assembly 
of  Mongolian  chieftains,  and  exact  the  title  of  Gengiz 
Khan,  by  which  he  was  recognized  as  head  of  the 
united  hordes.  With  this  force  at  his  back  Gengiz 
Khan  swept  down  upon  the  north  of  China,  and,  after 
three  years'  hard  fighting,  compelled  his  former 
suzerain,  the  Emperor,  to  sue  for  peace  upon  humili- 
ating terms.  The  Khitan  were  next  in  turn,  and  were 
rapidly  subdued.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if 
Gengiz  Khan  would  be  content  to  rest  upon  his 
laurels;  but,  unhappily,  the  Sultan,  Mohammed  III., 
of  Khowaresm,  forgot  himself  so  far  as  to  arrest  the 
envoys  of  the  great  Khan,  who  had  been  sent  to  his 

59 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

country  with  a  caravan,  and  to  plunder  their  merchan- 
dise. Gengiz  Khan,  highly  incensed  at  this  affront, 
determined  upon  war.  Accompanied  by  his  sons,  he 
moved  with  great  rapidity  lipon  Samarcand,  which 
was  soon  captured.  The  Sultan  Mohammed  en- 
deavored to  avoid  a  decisive  battle,  and  withdrew  m 
the  direction  of  Bokhara,  which  he  abandoned  to  the 
Mongols,  who  pressed  close  upon  his  track.  The  fate 
of  Bokhara  is  typical  of  the  fate  of  all  the  cities  in 
which  the  Mongolian  conquerors  set  foot.  Many  of 
these  cities  of  Turkestan  had  become  active  centres  of 
civilization;  Bokhara  especially  was  famous  for  its 
books  and  learning.  The  Mongols  spared  nothing: 
the  male  population  was  put  to  the  sword,  and  the 
women  and  children  thrown  into  bondage,  while  the 
city  itself,  with  all  its  valuable  libraries  and  rich 
mosques,  was  given  to  the  flames.  Meanwhile  Mo- 
hammed had  perished  from  want  somewhere  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  had  left  the  salvation 
of  his  realm  to  his  son  Djelaleddin. 

Gengiz  Khan  pursued  him  through  Ghasna  to  the 
Indus,  where  he  compelled  him  to  accept  battle.  He 
was  defeated,  but  fought  with  such  unexampled  brav- 
ery, and  escaped  by  swimming  the  Indus  under  a 
heavy  shower  of  arrows,  that  he  wrung  a  meed  of 
praise  even  from  his  vanquishers.  Beyond  the  Indus 
the  flood  of  Mongol  invasion  did  not  pass,  but  re- 
coiled upon  Persia.  It  was  then  that  Gengiz  Khan's 
son  Tuji  was  detached  to  overrun  the  southern  prov- 
inces of  Russia ;  his  son  Batu  conquered  the  whole  of 

60 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEEIALISM 

Russia,  and  pushed  forward  as  far  as  the  Dniester 
(1237).  In  the  mean  time  Gcngiz  Khan  was  spend- 
ing his  time  in  Persia,  hunting  upon  a  gigantic  scale, 
and  drawing  up  a  code  of  constitution,  half  religious, 
half  political,  and  wholly  patriarchal  for  the  govern- 
ment of  his  people.  This,  the  famous  "  Yassa,"  is 
in  force  to  the  present  day.  Shortly  after  his  return 
to  Karakorum  (1224)  Gengiz  Khan  died  (1227). 

By  testamentary  disposition,  he  split  up  his  domin- 
ions among  his  sons,  by  whom  they  were  yet  more  ex- 
tended. The  Mongolians  were  only  prevented  from 
spreading  over  western  Europe  by  their  defeat  at 
Liegnitz  (1241). 

The  story  of  the  great  Mongolian  Empire  is  so  full 
of  romantic  details,  that  it  has  been  a  favorite  subject 
for  song  and  poetry  ever  since  the  dawn  of  European 
letters.  There  are  few  who  have  not  heard  of  the 
glory  of  Kublai  Khan  and  his  "  stately  pleasure- 
dome  "  at  Peking.  But  in  reality,  from  a  historical 
point  of  view,  the  conquests  of  the  Mongols  are  of 
second-rate  importance.  They  passed  like  a  storm 
over  half  the  world,  destroying  everything  in  their 
path,  but  their  trace  has  vanished  and  they  have  left 
nothing  to  mark  their  passage,  save  here  and  there 
a  vestige  of  their  vandalism.  Where  the  Mongolian 
conqueror  became  a  permanent  ruler,  he  was  soon  ab- 
sorbed into  the  superior  civilization  of  his  subjects, 
just  as  in  China ;  he  entirely  lost  any  marked  national 
characteristics  he  may  have  possessed. 

61 


IV 

SUCCESS    IN    IMPERIALISM.— II 

Other  examples  in  empire  -  building:  Venice.  Her  rise  and 
growth.  Causes.  Effects.  Holland  and  the  Dutch  Empire. 
Reasons  of  its  failure.  The  British  Empire.  Its  unprece- 
dented character. 

Scarcely  could  there  be  a  more  impressive  example 
of  the  paramount  influence  of  geographical  position 
upon  the  destinies  of  human  communities  than  that 
afforded  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Venetian  Republic. 
The  advantages  which  Venice  obtained  from  her  pecul- 
iar situation  are  obvious.  Protected  from  the  inroad 
of  the  sea  by  the  strong  bulwark  of  the  Lidi,  rendered 
even  more  powerful  through  the  labors  of  her  engi- 
neers, and  from  assault  from  the  mainland  by  the  in- 
tervening expanse  of  lagunes  and  morass,  Venice  re- 
mained throughout  the  days  of  her  prosperity  practi- 
cally unassailable,  although  her  aggressive  policy  and 
gathering  wealth  secured  her  her  full  share  of  foes. 
Venice  is  peculiarly  suitable  to  navigation,  as  the  rise 
and  fall  of  tide  there  is  greater  than  at  any  other  part 
of  the  Adriatic.  But  all  these  advantages  do  not 
suffice  to  explain  Venetian  success,  or  why  in  so  brief 
a  space  of  time  she  rose  from  insignificance  to  hold  the 
proud  dominion  of  all  the  then  known  seas.     Things 

62 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

must  have  materially  altered  since  the  days  of  the 
Koman  Empire,  when  it  is  not  even  sure  that  the  'long- 
shore fishermen  had  deigned  to  form  a  settlement  on 
the  Venetian  Islands. 

During  the  early  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages 
the  countries  of  northern  Europe  had  been  growing 
rapidly  in  importance.  There  was  a  constant  flow 
of  trade  between  those  lands  and  the  Mediterranean 
basin,  and  this  stream  of  commerce  was  forced  to  find 
its  way  for  the  most  part  through  the  passes  of  the 
Carinthian  Alps  and  to  the  sea.  Half  of  Europe 
thus  became,  as  it  were,  the  hinterland  of  Venice.  It 
is  clear  that  Venice  boasts  certain  advantages  over 
the  modern  ports  of  Fiume  and  Trieste,  and  her 
island  position  allowed  her  early  to  assert  her  inde- 
pendence of  the  Empire. 

For  several  centuries  Venice  was  practically  the 
centre  of  the  civilized  world;  at  the  opening  of  her 
career  a  series  of  historical  events  contributed  con- 
siderably to  the  increase  of  her  power.  These  were  the 
Crusades.  Venice  had  already  at  that  time  gained  a 
firm  footfold  on  the  Dalmatian  coast,  and  had  been 
successful  in  defeating  the  Normans  off  Buthrotum 
(1084),  in  gratitude  for  which  the  Byzantine  Em- 
peror Alexius  had  granted  the  Venetians  peculiar 
trading  facilities  and  right  of  domicile  in  many  of  the 
Levantine  ports.  During  the  first  Crusade  the  Chris- 
tian army  in  Syria  depended  almost  entirely  for  their 
provisions  upon  supplies  shipped  by  Venetian  vessels, 
and  we  may  feel  sure  that  the  Venetian  merchant 

63 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

knew  how  to  look  after  his  profits,  and  that  he  was 
well  paid  for  his  assistance  in  reducing  Kaifa,  Acre, 
and  Sidon.  Pisa,  the  only  possible  rival,  was  disposed 
of  in  an  engagement  off  Rhodes.  The  increasing  pros- 
perity of  Venice  led  unavoidably  to  her  territorial 
expansion.  Her  possessions  in  Dalmatia  and  Croatia 
were  becoming  more  and  more  important,  as  she  drew 
from  thence  the  rough  materials  for  her  dockyard. 
We  accordingly  find  her  at  constant  variance  with  the 
Hungarians,  and  losing  and  regaining  (1116)  Zara, 
Spalato,  Sebenico,  and  Trani.  This  is  the  beginning 
of  Venice's  Colonial  Empire,  and  already  her  doges 
style  themselves  "  Duces  Venetiarum,  Dalmatice  et 
Croatice."  During  the  second  Crusade,  these  domin- 
ions were  augmented  by  the  capture  of  Tyre  (1147), 
by  the  Doge  Domenico  Michieli,  and  this  conquest  is 
already  organized  on  the  plan  which  we  shall  see  ob- 
served with  regard  to  all  future  Venetian  colonies. 

Soon  after  this  Venice  became  involved  in  hostili- 
ties with  the  Byzantine  Empire.  The  keen  commer- 
cial competition  of  the  Venetians  was  driving  the 
Byzantine  out  of  the  market,  and  the  Emperor  Manuel 
Comnenus  was  greatly  incensed  at  the  support  given 
by  Venice  to  the  Latin  conquerors  of  Syria.  This 
quarrel  soon  burst  into  open  flame,  the  Dalmatian 
colonies,  backed  by  an  imperial  army,  broke  into  in- 
surrection, and  the  Venetian  Doge,  Vitale  Michieli, 
found  great  difficulty  in  reducing  Trani.  He  then 
(1172)  sailed  to  the  iEgean  and  seized  the  imperial 
possessions  Lesbos,  Chios,  and  Samos.     Plague  drove 

64 


SUCCESS    IN    IMPERIALISM 

the  fleet  home,  after  an  unsuccessful  descent  upon 
Eubcea,  and  the  pestilence  spread  over  Venice;  the 
troubles  which  ensued  ended  in  a  remodelling  of  the 
constitution  on  a  more  popular  basis  (1172). 

Momentous  in  Venetian  history  is  the  date  of  the 
fourth  Crusade  (1203).  The  Crusaders,  now  cut  off 
from  the  Holy  Land  by  the  hostile  Empire,  were  com- 
pelled to  charter  the  Venetian  fleet.  This  they  were 
only  able  to  obtain  after  helping  to  reduce  the  revolted 
city  of  Zara.  The  Doge  Dandolo,  who  had  personal 
motives  for  wreaking  a  terrible  revenge  upon  the  Em- 
peror Manuel,  who  had  had  him  blinded,  succeeded 
by  artful  diplomacy  in  diverting  the  Crusading  army 
upon  Constantinople.  The  partition  of  the  Byzantine 
territories  ensued,  and  a  large  share  fell  to  Venice, 
which  thus  became  an  imperial  power  of  the  first 
magnitude.  At  one  blow  she  obtained  the  Morea, 
Euboea,  a  number  of  islands  in  the  iEgean,  includ- 
ing Andros,  Salamis,  and  rEgina,  Lesbos  and  Abydos, 
which  gave  her  the  command  of  the  Dardanelles,  prac- 
tically the  whole  of  the  east  coast  of  the  Adriatic,  and 
not  least  important,  the  island  of  Crete. 

Crete  became  the  bone  of  contention  between  Ven- 
ice and  her  great  rival,  Genoa.  Soon  after  1261  the 
war  broke  out  which  was  to  last  with  few  interrup- 
tions for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  Venetians 
soon  realized  that  the  policy  which  they  had  hitherto 
practised  with  regard  to  their  new  acquisitions  was 
incapable  of  securing  their  permanent  dominion,  and 
accordingly  several  attempts  were  made  at  colonizing 
6  65 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Crete  with  native  Venetians;  colonies  were  likewise 
settled  in  Cyprus,  the  Morea,  and  the  Ionian  Isl- 
ands. Peace  had  been  patched  up  between  Venice 
and  Genoa  in  1238  by  papal  intervention,  but  the  war 
again  broke  into  flame  in  1258.  The  interests  of  the 
two  powers  would  not  allow  of  any  lasting  pacifica- 
tion. Henceforth  it  was  a  struggle  a  outrance.  We 
cannot  here  follow  out  in  detail  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
this  great  contest,  which  after  many  victories  and  de- 
feats was  to  end  in  the  utter  undoing  of  Genoa  at  the 
battle  of  Chioggia  (1380),  when  Venice  herself  had 
been  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin,  and  only  escaped 
destruction  through  the  opportune  arrival  of  her  ad- 
miral, Carlo  Feno,  from  the  East,  who,  by  blockading 
the  port  of  Chioggia,  compelled  the  entire  Genoese 
armada  to  surrender  at  discretion. 

Many  circumstances  drove  Venice  into  playing  a 
Continental  policy.  It  became  absolutely  necessary 
for  her  to  secure  the  command  of  the  Brenta,  as 
upon  the  maintenance  of  the  course  of  that  river  de- 
pended the  insular  position  of  the  Republic.  The 
diversion  of  the  river  channel  was  equally  important 
to  several  of  the  mainland  cities,  whose  domains 
were  continually  liable  to  the  most  destructive  in- 
undations. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  Venice 
stood  at  the  height  of  her  power.  We  have  the  reports 
of  Tommaso  Mocenigo,  which  bear  witness  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Republic  in  every  branch  of  industry 
and  trade.    We  possess  detailed  records  of  the  imports 

66 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

and  the  exports,  and  valuations  of  property  in  Venice 
itself.  Venetian  agents  were  at  that  time  stationed  in 
almost  every  important  city  of  Europe.  Besides  its 
fleet  of  45  galleys,  manned  by  11,000  men,  which  was 
continually  cruising  in  the  Adriatic,  Venice  possessed 
300  first-class  vessels,  and  as  many  thousand  smaller 
merchantmen,  of  which  the  crews  are  estimated  at 
36,000. 

Very  shortly  after  this  Venice  reached  the  limits 
of  her  territorial  expansion.  On  the  mainland  her 
domain  spread  from  the  Alps  above  Bergamo  to  the 
Adriatic  at  Bimini.  The  whole  of  the  Adriatic  east 
coast  belonged  to  her,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Po  to 
the  Morea.  Besides  this  she  possessed  the  islands  of 
Zante,  Crete,  and  Cyprus,  not  to  speak  of  numberless 
isolated  trading-posts  on  the  Black  Sea,  nay  even  on 
the  Caspian,  in  Syria,  and  along  the  north  coast  of 
Africa.  Venetian  exports  ran  into  close  upon  five  mill- 
ions of  pounds  sterling  per  annum,  then  worth  from 
six  to  fifteen  times  the  present  purchasing  power  of 
that  amount.  Every  year  officials  were  despatched  to 
inspect  the  Venetian  possessions  on  the  mainland ;  they 
criticised  the  condition  in  which  the  fortifications  were 
kept,  and  forwarded  home  reports ;  the  accounts  were 
gone  into  and  audited.  The  island  colonies  were  sub- 
jected to  the  same  system  of  control,  but  at  less  fre- 
quent intervals.  We  still  possess  the  notes  of  a  fa- 
mous proveditore  for  the  year  1482.  This  forms  part 
of  the  diary  of  Marino  Sanuto,  and  it  shows  into  what 
minute  details  the  inspectors  went  in  the  fifty  -  odd 

67 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

towns  which  they  visited  upon  this  particular  tour  of 
supervision. 

There  is  much  of  the  irony  of  fate  in  the  fact  that 
Genoa,  at  last  reduced  to  impotence  after  a  secular 
struggle  with  Venice,  should  have  given  birth  to  the 
man  who  was  to  compass,  unconsciously  enough,  the 
ruin  of  her  rival.  The  discovery  of  America  by 
Christopher  Columbus  in  1492  sounded  the  knell  of 
Venice's  good  fortune.  Misfortunes  never  come  sin- 
gly. The  opening  of  the  sea  route  to  the  Far  East 
by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  an  equally  heavy  blow 
to  Venetian  commerce.  The  whole  economical  equilib- 
rium of  the  world  was  shaken,  and  the  advantages  of 
Venice's  geographical  position  were  nullified.  At  one 
blow  the  Mediterranean,  instead  of  being  the  sea 
about  which  all  the  interests  of  the  world  were  group- 
ed, became  a  comparatively  unimportant  lake.  The 
land  routes  to  the  East,  always  expensive,  and  now 
rendered  more  and  more  perilous  every  day  by  the 
advance  of  the  Turks,  were  abandoned,  and  trade  be- 
gan to  flow  round  the  Cape  instead  of  into  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Mediterranean.  Continental  commerce 
began  in  the  same  way  to  drift  westward  towards  At- 
lantic ports  instead  of  coming  south  to  the  Adriatic. 
To  crown  all  these  disasters,  the  Turks,  since  1453 
in  possession  of  Constantinople,  assumed  every  year  a 
more  uncompromising  attitude.  Of  the  conventions 
signed  with  the  Osmanli  in  1479,  1503,  1540,  none 
ended  to  Venice's  advantage,  and  she  was  compelled 
to  renounce  her  possessions  one  after  another,  and  to 

68 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

give  up  all  idea  of  regaining  access  to  the  Black  Sea. 
The  Venetian  merchant  must  have  grasped  too  clearly 
the  agents  which  were  undermining  his  welfare,  and 
must  have  understood  how  irrevocable  was  his  doom. 
All  his  efforts  were  unavailing.  On  the  Continent 
all  were  against  him.  France,  Aragon,  the  Pope,  and 
the  Empire,  leagued  at  Cambrai  (1508),  defeated  him 
at  Agnadello,  and  all  the  mainland  possessions  of 
Venice  were  plundered  and  destroyed.  In  1571  even 
Cyprus  was  taken  away.  A  few  days  after  the  fall 
of  Famagusta,  the  last  Venetian  stronghold  in  Cyprus, 
the  united  Spanish,  Pontifical,  and  Venetian  fleets, 
under  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  succeeded  in  winning 
a  signal  victory  over  the  Turks  off  Lepanto  (October 
7,  1571).  Spain,  however,  withdrew  from  the  alli- 
ance, and  thus  to  a  great  extent  sterilized  the  results 
of  this  success.  The  Venetians  considered  it  advis- 
able to  come  to  terms  while  yet  the  Porte  was  dis- 
mayed at  its  discomfiture,  and  accordingly  a  treaty 
was  concluded  at  Constantinople,  March  7,  1573.  The 
signory  agreed  to  pay  300,000  ducats  in  annual  in- 
stalments spread  over  three  years,  besides  1000  ducats 
a  year  to  be  allowed  to  retain  Zante.  Cyprus,  how- 
ever, was  gone  irrevocably. 

We  have  said  that  the  great  geographical  discoveries 
at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  changed  as  it 
were  the  economical  centre  of  gravity  of  the  world. 
Let  us  now  go  on  to  observe  how  the  same  causes 
which  brought  about  the  abasement  of  Venice  led  to  the 
rise  of  Holland  and  laid  the  foundations  of  England's 

69 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

imperial  ambitions.  The  revelation  of  a  new  world 
in  the  west  had  stimulated  the  flagging  energies  of 
Dutch  commerce  and  Dutch  industry  into  fresh  vigor, 
and  although  the  country  had  now  fallen  under  the 
yoke  of  Spain,  her  prosperity  made  rapid  strides. 
Nevertheless,  the  land  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  im- 
mense colonial  role  it  was  destined  to  play  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  struggle  for  independence 
(156G-1609)  cut  off  the  country  from  all  partici- 
pation in  the  profits  of  the  new  Spanish  conquests. 
Moreover,  Spain  continued  to  regard  her  American 
colonies  with  the  utmost  jealousy,  and  was  not  in- 
clined to  see  with  equanimity  any  European  intruder, 
were  he  Dutch  or  were  he  English,  poaching  on  her 
rich  preserves.  She  intended  to  preserve  the  strictest 
monopoly  of  her  fresh  field  of  commercial  enterprise. 
Portugal,  in  like  fashion,  having  disclosed  the  new 
route  to  the  East,  made  haste  to  close  it  with  all  the 
barriers  and  obstacles  in  her  reach.  Even  the  nautical 
data,  which  might  assist  a  navigator  in  weathering  the 
Cape,  were  kept  as  far  a  secret  as  possible,  and  Hout- 
man  picked  up  the  information,  which  he  was  to  turn 
to  such  good  account,  only  when  he  was  held  in  cap- 
tivity in  Lisbon.  Portugal  grasped  to  the  full  the 
grand  importance  of  the  achievement  of  Vasco  da 
Gama,  who  returned  in  1499,  after  circumventing  the 
Cape  and  reaching  Calicut.  He  was  welcomed  with 
the  utmost  enthusiasm.  King  Emanuel  loaded  him 
with  distinctions,  and  in  1502  he  was  sent  to  sea  again 
at  the  head  of  a  little  fleet  of  nineteen  vessels.     On 

70 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEEIALISM 

this  voyage  he  took  possession  of  portions  of  Mozam- 
bique and  Sofala,  entered  into  advantageous  arrange- 
ments with  several  Indian  potentates,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  Portuguese  colonial  dominions. 
His  successors,  Almeida,  Albuquerque,  and  Cabral, 
the  discoverer  of  Brazil,  set  their  country  on  an  even 
footing  with  Spain.  The  wealth  accruing  from  these 
new  dominions  raised  the  Portuguese  naval  power  to 
the  second  rank. 

Holland,  though  unable  to  reap  immediate  benefit 
from  the  Portuguese  colonies,  benefited  by  them  indi- 
rectly. Dutch  vessels  at  Lisbon  transshipped  the  wares 
from  the  Indies,  and  were  aided  in  their  distribution 
over  Europe.  The  carrying  trade  of  Holland  was 
already  of  very  great  importance,  and  Dutch  ships 
might  be  seen  in  the  Norwegian  ports  loading  timber, 
filling  their  holds  with  grain  at  Baltic  harbors,  or  tak- 
ing aboard  cargoes  of  wine  in  the  French  rivers  or  on 
the  Rhine.  The  North  Sea  fishing-grounds  were  not 
only  a  source  of  enormous  wealth,  but  an  unrivalled 
school  of  seamanship.  It  was  not  likely  that  the 
Dutch  would  watch  very  long  with  complacency  the 
treasures  of  half  the  world  flowing  into  the  coffers  of 
their  foes.  Many  a  Dutch  seaman  had  served  his 
apprenticeship  on  board  a  Portuguese  merchantman, 
and  when  Portugal  fell  to  Spain  in  1580  the  Dutch 
were  not  long  in  trespassing  on  her  defenceless  pos- 
sessions, and  no  doubt  the  fact  that  those  possessions 
were  the  property  of  their  archenemy,  Spain,  lent  zest 
to  their  incursions. 

71 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

In  1594,  four  vessels  under  Houtman  started  for  a 
cruise  in  the  East  Indies,  which  lasted  for  two  years 
and  four  months,  and  turned  out  so  much  to  their 
financial  betterment  that  their  example  was  follow- 
ed by  several  small  companies  formed  at  Rotterdam, 
Delft,  and  Iloorn.  It  was  dangerous  work  navigating 
in  those  days,  except  in  force  sufficient  to  be  able  to 
dispose  of  troublesome  rivals,  and  the  sea  was  not  yet 
severely  policed  as  it  is  in  modern  times.  A  large 
company  was  consequently  more  likely  to  prove  suc- 
cessful than  a  small.  Such  considerations  led  to  the 
founding  of  the  two  great  Dutch  Oriental  companies 
which  were  the  prime  agents  of  Dutch  colonial  aggran- 
dizement. Dutch  colonial  history  is  the  history  of 
those  companies.  The  West  Indian  Company,  found- 
ed 1621,  did  not  prove  an  unqualified  success,  and 
after  spending  five  millions  of  money,  they  gave  way 
before  the  Portuguese;  the  company,  remodelled  in 
1(571  and  1692,  secured  Dutch  Guiana  and  Surinam. 
The  rapidity  with  which  possessions  were  acquired 
by  the  Eastern  Company,  founded  1602,  is  stupen- 
dous. From  the  Cape,  occupied  in  1653,  they  spread 
to  Ceylon.  Quite  unscrupulous  in  their  colonial 
policy,  they  here  combined  with  the  natives  to  eject 
the  Portuguese  (1632-1657).  The  acquisition  of  Cey- 
lon secured  them  the  monopoly  of  the  cinnamon  trade, 
which  was  immensely  lucrative,  and  by  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  Moluccas  they  obtained  a  similar  monopoly 
of  cloves.  From  1650  to  1680  Java  was  being  re- 
duced to  submission,  and  Batavia,  founded  as  early 

72 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

as  1619,  became  the  focus  of  Oriental  commerce. 
In  India,  the  taking  of  Xegapatam  (1660),  Cochin 
(1663),  St.  Thome  (1674),  marks  the  principal  stages 
of  Dutch  expansion. 

The  Dutch  colonial  system  has  been  subjected  to 
adverse  criticism  on  many  grounds.  We  have  here  to 
regard  it  chiefly  from  an  historical  point  of  view. 
The  policy  of  Holland  was  dictated  by  purely  com- 
mercial ambition;  it  was  carried  out  with  the  sole 
object  of  enriching  the  mercantile  class  at  home.  In 
this  object  it  was  eminently  successful,  and  the  influx 
of  wealth  into  the  mother-country  was  enormous. 
Small  traders  and  retailers  were  rich  enough  to  cov- 
et highly  finished  pictures  from  the  famous  Dutch 
painters.  This  accounts  for  the  predominance  of  still- 
life  pictures,  to  meet  the  taste  of  the  Dutch  rich  small 
bourgeoisie.  Colonial  expansion  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word  was  never  existent.  Holland  was  not  afflict- 
ed with  any  surplus  population,  and  consequently  her 
colonies  had  never  really  come  under  the  influence 
of  a  Dutch  colonial  population,  with  Dutch  ideas  or 
Dutch  culture.  The  proportion  of  Dutch  colonists, 
beyond  the  official  governing  staff,  in  Java  for  ex- 
ample, is  entirely  insignificant.  The  culture-system 
of  wholesale  exploitation,  on  which  the  colonies  were 
administered,  though  now  somewhat  mitigated,  is  still 
in  vigor.  By  this  arrangement  the  native  is  com- 
pelled to  cultivate  the  plantation  of  the  Dutch  owners, 
and  after  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  product  has  been 
put  on  one  side  for  his  sustenance,  the  rest  is  disposed 

73 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

of  to  the  profit  o£  the  master.  The  distinction  be- 
tween this  system  and  slavery  is  obviously  only  a 
verbal  one,  and  it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  those 
subjected  to  it  are  only  too  ready  to  exchange  Dutch 
dominion  for  any  other.  Holland  was  unable  to  op- 
pose any  serious  resistance  to  Clive  in  India  (1759), 
or  to  Cornwallis  in  Ceylon  (1795).  It  would,  how- 
ever, be  quite  erroneous  to  run  away  with  the  idea  that 
the  defects  of  the  Dutch  system  are  connected  with 
any  inherent  racial  inferiority  of  the  Hollander  as  a 
colonist.  The  same  phenomenon  will  be  seen  to  recur 
with  inevitable  regularity  whenever  a  small  power, 
carried  away  by  mercantile  enthusiasm,  is  led  to  found 
a  broad  colonial  empire.  It  was  as  impossible  for 
Holland  to  people  her  transmarine  possessions  with  a 
Dutch  population  as  we  have  seen  it  was  impossible 
for  Venice  to  really  colonize  her  acquisitions  in  the 
Mediterranean.  Such  a  proceeding,  if  it  were  at  all 
feasible,  would  entail  a  fatal  depletion  of  the  home 
country.  An  empire,  however,  built  up  on  entirely 
commercial  lines  is  necessarily  unstable.  Any  blow 
dealt  at  the  centre  of  such  an  empire  brings  the  whole 
colonial  superstructure  tumbling  down  like  a  house 
of  cards.  The  various  members  either  fall  a  prey  to 
the  ambition  of  some  fresh  empire-builder,  or  else 
lapse  into  their  original  quasi-independence.  Wo 
have  seen  how,  on  the  decline  of  Venice,  her  various 
colonies  fell  away,  and  it  would  be  impossible  at  the 
present  day  to  discover  the  faintest  trace  of  Venetian 
influence  on  her  former  possessions.     In  Crete,  Venice 

74 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

has,  in  spite  of  secular  dominion,  left  no  mark.  The 
same  was  the  case,  in  antiquity,  with  the  Phoenician 
dominions  in  Sicily;  and  although  the  merchants  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon  held  for  centuries  innumerable  trad- 
ing-posts along  the  Sicilian  littoral,  they  have  left  not 
a  trace  of  their  civilization. 

For  Holland,  with  her  one  million  (or  a  little 
above)  of  inhabitants  in  the  seventeenth  century  to 
people  colonial  possessions  containing  indigenous  pop- 
ulations ten  or  twenty  times  as  great  was  out  of  the 
question.  When  by  immense  expenditure  of  capital 
and  effort  she  has  finally  succeeded  in  quelling  the 
native,  and  bringing  his  heritage  into  profitable  work- 
ing order,  her  domain  will  fall  to  the  lot  of  some 
power  whose  superabundant  home  population  must 
find  an  outlet.  _____ >-«£»_ 

It  is  difficult  for  the  present  generation  to  realize 
that  the  colonial  empire  of  Great  Britain  is  the  fab- 
ric of  comparatively  recent  times.  England,  although 
the  last  of  the  great  powers  to  embark  upon  an  exten- 
sive colonial  policy,  has  far  outstripped  all  her  com- 
petitors, with  the  result  that,  at  the  present  day,  she 
is  in  possession  of  over  one-fifth  of  the  surface  of  the 
globe  and  rules  over  a  quarter  of  the  world's  in- 
habitants. England's  insular  position  has  been  the 
principal  agent  in  building  up  this  immense  empire, 
and  she  has  been  thereby  enabled  to  take  full  advan- 
tage of  any  Continental  complications  in  which  her 
rivals  may  have  found  themselves  involved.  Thus 
the  three  dates  which  mark  .successive  reductions  in 

75 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

the  colonial  empire  of  France  (1713,  17G3,  1814)  are 
red-letter  days  in  British  colonial  annals. 

When  the  first  agents  of  the  new  European  trad- 
ing companies  began  to  found  their  factories  along  the 
Indian  coast,  the  whole  of  the  peninsula  was  still  held 
by  the  strong  hand  of  the  Moghul  dynasty.  Accord- 
ingly we  find  very  few  high-handed  proceedings  upon 
the  part  of  the  new  comers  such  as  we  shall  encounter 
later  on.  They  were  content  if  their  humble  suit  to 
the  Moghul  Emperor  secured  them  the  commercial 
privileges  which  as  yet  formed  the  uttermost  horizon 
of  their  ambitions.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury the  idea  of  making  broad  territorial  conquests  in 
India  does  not  seem  to  have  even  suggested  itself  to 
the  servants  of  the  European  companies.  The  Eng- 
lish company  (chartered  in  1600)  did  not  seek  more 
than  to  participate  in  the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  its 
Portuguese  and  Dutch  forerunners,  and  was  highly 
well-pleased  at  obtaining  from  1G12  to  1G16  grants 
of  settlement  from  the  Great  Moghul  at  Surat,  Ahme- 
dabad,  and  Cambay,  on  the  west  coast.  It  was  advis- 
able to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  native  rulers, 
whatever  might  be  your  dissensions  with  European 
rivals.  These  latter  led  to  frequent  quarrels,  some  of 
which  were  marked  by  horrors  like  the  massacre  of 
the  English  by  the  Dutch  at  Amboyna  (1623). 

Had  the  Europeans  sought  at  thrs  period  to  obtain 
a  foothold  in  the  peninsula  on  anything  but  terms  of 
toleration,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  they  would 
have  found  their  match  in  Akbar  or  his  successors,  but 

76 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEKIALISM 

even  as  late  as  1706  no  notion  of  conquest  had  passed 
through  the  minds  of  the  peaceful  members  of  the  old 
"  John  Company."  A  good  dividend  was  the  whole  of 
their  desire.  But  the  days  of  the  Moghul  dynasty 
were  numbered;  the  chief  administrators  of  the  Mo- 
ghul government  were  no  longer  to  be  kept  in  hand. 
With  the  death  of  Aurungzeb  the  dissolution  was  pre- 
cipitated, and  the  provincial  viceroys,  no  longer  held 
in  awe  by  the  central  authority  at  Delhi,  began  to 
shift  for  themselves.  Thus  the  ISTawab  Wazir  of  Oudh 
became  to  all  intents  and  purposes  independent.  Such 
was  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad,  under  whom  stood  the 
ISTawab  of  Arcot,  lord  of  the  Carnatic.  In  addition  to 
this  internal  disruption  came  the  invasions  of  the 
Hindu  powers,  Marathas,  Sikhs,  and  Rajputs,  and  the 
power  of  the  Great  Moghul  was  still  further  shaken 
by  the  irruption  of  the  Persians  under  Nadir  Shah 
(1728),  which  ended  in  the  sack  of  Delhi. 

It  was  this  state  of  affairs  which  led  Dupleix,  the 
French  director-general  at  Pondicherry,  to  conceive  the 
possibility  of  a  French  colonial  empire  in  India,  and 
his  rapid  progress  very  soon  showed  how  feasible 
was  his  idea.  The  English  were  now  not  long  in 
adopting  the  same  ambitions  as  those  of  the  French 
director-general.  The  struggle  for  mastery  between 
France  and  England  lasted  with  very  brief  moments 
of  respite  from  1744  to  176-3,  but  in  spite  of  the 
efforts  of  men  like  Dupleix,  Labourdonnais,  Bussy, 
and  not  least  of  all  of  the  Bailli  de  Suffren,  who  beat 
the  English  fleet  time  after  time  off  the  east  coast  of 

77 


SUCCESS   AMONG    NATIONS 

India,  in  1782-1783,  the  idea  of  colonial  expansion 
had  not  really  been  taken  to  heart  by  the  French  Gov- 
ernment at  home,  and  the  successes  of  her  Indian 
agents  were  unhesitatingly  immolated  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  European  politics.  We  cannot  follow  out  the 
course  of  subsequent  English  expansion  in  India, 
under  Clive,  Warren  Hastings,  Cornwallis,  and  Wel- 
lesley.  The  resistance  they  met  with  was  not  really 
serious,  and  India  was  never  hereafter  capable  of  any 
undivided  effort.  The  energies  of  the  country  appear 
to  have  been  sapped  and  exhausted  by  the  Moghul  rule, 
and  England,  in  building  up  her  Indian  Empire,  was 
confronted  with  much  the  same  state  of  affairs  as 
were  the  Romans  in  their  imperial  development.  The 
nationalities  of  India  are  effete,  and  both  with  and 
without  the  benefits  of  British  rule  they  have  remain- 
ed incapable  of  progress.  Will  they  ever  arise  with 
vigor  from  this  long  torpor  ? 

The  British  colonial  empire  is  entirely  dependent 
for  its  maintenance  upon  the  predominance  of  the 
British  fleet,  and  this  will  explain  the  care  and  lavish 
expenditure  which  Great  Britain  has  devoted  to  some 
of  her  smaller  possessions.  They  are  destined,  in  case 
of  war,  to  act  as  bases  for  naval  operations,  and  to 
link  together  the  outlying  colonies  of  the  Empire.  It 
is,  of  course,  quite  out  of  the  question  to  introduce 
independent  systems  of  government  in  these  purely 
strategic  possessions,  which  are  accordingly  bound  to 
the  home-country  by  far  closer  ties  than  the  larger 
agricultural  colonies.     In  Europe,  England  possesses 

78 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPEKIALISM 

Gibraltar,  captured  from  the  Spanish  in  1704  by  a 
combination  of  the  English  and  Dutch,  and  ceded 
in  1713  to  England  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  The 
various  attempts  to  retake  it  have  been  abortive,  and 
from  1779  to  1783  it  withstood  a  siege  upon  the  part 
of  the  allied  Spanish  and  French.  The  possession  of 
Gibraltar,  now  rendered  impregnable  at  immense  cost 
of  money  and  labor,  assures  England  an  entry  into 
the  Mediterranean  in  time  of  war,  and  communication 
with  her  two  other  European  outposts,  Malta  and  Cy- 
prus. It  is  probable  that  the  artillery  of  Gibraltar 
would  prevent  any  hostile  fleet  from  coming  in  or  out 
of  the  Mediterranean.  Malta,  handed  over  to  Eng- 
land by  the  Maltese  in  1800,  after  the  capitulation  of 
the  French  garrison,  and  ceded  finally  by  the  treaty 
of  Paris  in  1814,  is  a  strategic  point  of  first-rate  im- 
portance, dividing,  as  it  does,  the  Mediterranean  into 
two  basins,  standing  midway  between  France  and  her 
most  important  colonies,  and  forming  a  convenient 
centre  of  operations  against  the  new  French  naval 
base  at  Bizerta.  Cyprus,  although  only  held  under 
convention,  is  not  likely  to  be  evacuated  except  under 
compulsion,  and  is  an  advanced  post  for  the  control 
of  the  Dardanelles.  It  is  possible  that  it  will  be  con- 
verted into  a  naval  station  as  important  as  Malta, 
whose  harbor,  Valetta,  is  considered  the  finest  in  the 
world.  Besides  these  important  points,  England  also 
retains  the  Channel  Islands  as  sentinels  to  watch  the 
movements  of  France's  magnificent  chain  of  northern 
ports.     We  can  do  little  more  than  enumerate  the 

79 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

British  points  of  vantage  in  remoter  parts.  Aden  and 
IViini  guard  the  Eed  Sea,  Mauritius  stands  as  a  van- 
guard upon  the  Cape  route  to  India,  and  a  series  of 
strong  positions,  Pulo-Penang,  Singapore,  Labuan, 
Hongkong,  Port  Hamilton,  and  Wei  -  hai  -  wei,  are 
ready  to  meet  eventualities  in  the  Far  East.  It  has 
always  been  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  try  and 
close  all  the  minor  seas  by  a  powerful  fortified  post 
pitched  at  their  outlet,  and  British  endeavors  to  secure 
such  a  position  at  the  entrance  to  the  Persian  Gulf 
have  threatened  from  time  to  time  to  induce  serious 
European  complications. 

In  the  Atlantic  England  holds  three  exceptionally 
strong  points,  the  Bermuda  Islands  acting  as  a  balance 
to  the  American  naval  base  at  Key  West,  and  further 
south  the  islands  of  Ascension  and  St.  Helena. 

In  dealing  with  the  British  Empire,  we  cannot  in- 
sist too  strongly  upon  the  fact  that  historical  prece- 
dents are  entirely  wanting.  We  cannot  forecast  the 
future  of  the  British  Empire  by  an  appeal  to  the  lot 
which  has  befallen  the  great  empires  of  the  past.  Any 
comparison  is  fictitious.  The  British  Empire  is  an 
empire  sui  generis.  We  have  seen  that  the  Roman 
Empire  was,  on  the  whole,  built  up  and  governed 
on  entirely  different  principles.  The  causes  of  the 
growth  were  chiefly  negative.  Other  empires  have 
been  constructed  through  the  individual  energies  of 
great  fighters,  great  strategists ;  but  immediately  the 
personal  link  was  broken  they  were  destined  to  sub- 
divide, to  melt  away  as  rapidly  as  they  had  been  put 

80 


SUCCESS   IN   IMPERIALISM 

together.  Perhaps  a  comparison  with  the  present  Rus- 
sian Empire  is  most  fruitful  in  reflection.  The  Rus- 
sian Empire,  although  it  enjoys  the  inestimable  advan- 
tage of  geographical  continuity,  is  not  by  any  means  at 
the  same  stage  of  development  as  the  British  Empire. 
Russia's  energies  are  quite  absorbed  in  the  task  of 
assimilating  and  welding  into  a  homogeneous  mass 
her  vast  territories,  in  the  industrial  and  the  agricul- 
tural exploitation  of  her  dominions,  and  this  task  will 
preoccupy  her  for  generations,  at  least  a  century  to 
come.  Russia  is  really  already  at  a  standstill  in  her 
expansion,  and  as  soon  as  she  has  secured  her  maritime 
outlet  with  the  necessary  hinterland  we  may  expect 
her  to  limit  her  efforts  to  the  improvement  and  absorp- 
tion of  her  present  possessions.  The  two  great  ambi- 
tions which  have  been  and  still  are  ascribed  to  Russia 
are  certainly  quiescent,  if  not  dead.  ~No  attempt  has 
been  made  on  the  part  of  the  Russians  since  1762  to 
advance  at  the  expense  of  Germany,  and  with  that 
country  she  has  maintained  unshaken  amity.  No 
serious  endeavor  has  been  aimed  at  conquering  Con- 
stantinople, a  policy  with  which  Russia  is  still  gener- 
ally credited. 

We  have  spent,  perhaps,  too  much  time  in  dwelling 
on  the  history  of  England's  tropical  colonies,  when  it 
is  to  her  colonies  of  white  population,  such  as  Aus- 
tralia, ISTew  Zealand,  South  Africa,  and  Canada,  that 
her  grandeur  is  chiefly  due.  ~No  other  country  has 
hitherto  carried  out  a  colonial  policy  of  anything  like 
comparable  extent.  English  colonists  have  almost 
6  81 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

always  preceded,  not  followed,  the  addition  of  a  fresh 
dominion  to  the  Empire.  The  "  colony  "  was  first  peo- 
pled up  with  an  energetic  British  population,  and 
only  subsequently  formally  annexed.  Owing  to  this 
particular  feature,  England  is  enabled  to  maintain 
an  immensely  wide  sway  at  the  minimum  of  expense. 
The  plantation  colonies  are  likewise  administered  at 
the  present  day  on  more  humane  lines,  and  their  gov- 
ernment is  not  carried  out  with  a  main  view  to  bene- 
fiting the  home  country. 


INTELLECTUAL    SUCCESS.— I 

Not  every  manifestation  of  man's  thinking  power  constitutes 
intellectual  progress.  The  Babylonians,  Egyptians,  Chi- 
nese, and  Carthaginians,  too,  had  books,  inventions,  in- 
tellectual contrivances  of  all  kinds.  Examples.  Yet  they 
never  had  literature,  philosophy,  science,  nor  art  proper. 
What  makes  these  four  products  of  the  human  mind? 
Short  explanation  of  the  salient  points  of  the  most  per- 
fect specimens  of  literature,  philosophy,  art,  and  science — 
i.e.,  Greek  works.  Their  essential  advance  on  all  previous 
efforts.     Examples. 

We  have  in  the  present  chapter  to  deal  with  intellec- 
tual success,  and  from  the  beginning  crave  the  reader's 
indulgence  for  any  digressions  it  may  be  found  neces- 
sary to  make.  By  intellectual  success  should  be  un- 
derstood success  in  the  production  of  works  of  artistic 
value.  At  the  very  outset  the  word  art  brings  us  into 
collision  with  a  stumbling-block.  Very  few  people 
indeed  are  possessed  of  anything  but  the  most  vague 
and  illusory  conception  of  the  nature  and  aims  of  true 
art.  They  have  doubtless,  as  they  are  themselves  con- 
vinced, the  capacity  for  appreciating  a  work  of  art 
when  it  is  set  before  them;  but  ask  them  on  what 
ground  and  principles  they  base  their  appreciation, 
and  they  will  be  exceedingly  hard  put  to  find  an  an- 

83 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

swer.  Their  conceptions  may  be  instinctively  correct, 
but  they  would  find  the  greatest  difficulty  in  formu- 
lating them.  Perhaps  they  have  even  been  led  astray 
by  the  catchwords  of  so-called  naturalistic  and  realis- 
tic schools,  which  have  been  founded  in  quite  recent 
days  in  consequence  of  a  misconception  of  the  very 
essence  of  art.  They  profess  that  the  very  perfection 
of  art  lies  in  the  closest  possible  imitation  of  nature. 
Nothing  could  be  more  remote  from  the  truth.  As  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  see,  nature  is  essentially  inartis- 
tic, and  art  is  the  pride  and  privilege  of  man  alone. 
Perhaps  we  shall  have  the  nearest  approach  to  a  true 
definition  if  we  strike  a  mean  between  two  famous 
sayings  of  Aristotle,  that  art  imitates  nature,  and, 
secondly,  that  art  makes  that  which  nature  could  never 
make. 

Throughout  antiquity  one  nation  alone  can  be  said 
to  have  made  real  intellectual  progress.  Put  their 
hands,  put  their  minds  to  what  they  would,  the  Greeks 
almost  inevitably  produced  perfection.  There  exist 
people,  nevertheless,  who  would  still  rank  the  crude 
productions  of  Egyptian  manufactories  with  the  mas- 
terpiece of  Pheidias  and  Praxiteles.  It  devolves  upon 
us  to  show  wherein  lies  the  difference  between  Greek 
art  and  Egyptian  pseudo-art;  to  prove  that  the  same 
principles  underlie  Greek  art  in  all  its  branches;  to 
prove  that  our  admiration  of  a  play  of  Sophocles, 
and  of  the  Belvedere  Apollo,  though  it  may  be  gener- 
ated by  different  senses,  depends  upon  essentially  kin- 
dred feelings. 

84 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

If  we  are  brought  into  contact  with  anything  that 
is  beautiful  we  experience  a  sensation  of  pleasure,  and 
granted  that  the  sensation  of  pleasure  is  at  all  keen, 
our  instinctive  desire  is  to  obtain  its  recurrence.  Our 
pleasurable  feeling  has  been  caused  by  a  beautiful 
object,  and  it  is  our  aim  to  reproduce  the  form  of  that 
beauty — that  is,  to  create  a  work  of  art.  Here  at  once 
becomes  apparent  the  wide  gulf  that  separates  Nature 
from  art.  The  beauty  of  Nature  is  almost  always 
defective,  or  at  least  it  is  accidental.  Possible  things 
or,  at  best,  utility,  is  the  main  object  for  which  Nature 
works ;  it  is  not  her  end  to  be  beautiful.  Man  perceives 
the  beauty  of  Nature,  idealizes  it,  laying  aside  all  util- 
itarian imperfections,  and  produces  a  masterpiece 
which  is  perfect.  The  sole  aim  of  art  is  to  attain  the 
supremely  beautiful,  and  it  is  accordingly  freed  from 
the  trammels  which  hamper  Nature. 

To  produce  a  work  of  art  requires  genius — that  is, 
the  combination  of  a  true  appreciation  of  the  beautiful 
with  the  creative  power.  Without  the  creative  faculty 
a  man  may  have  subtle  taste ;  he  may  be  a  connoisseur, 
but  no  genius.  As  man  is  unable  to  create  the  sub- 
stantive part  of  his  work,  it  stands  to  reason  that  what 
he  does  create  is  the  form  in  which  the  substantive  part 
supplied  by  Nature  is  presentable.  It  is  in  the  crea- 
tion of  artistic  forms  that  the  Greek  excelled.  The 
great  problem  which  the  historian  of  Greece  has  to 
solve  is  why  a  small  nation  of  relatively  insignificant 
numbers  should,  in  the  short  span  of  only  a  few  cen- 
turies, have  been  enabled  to  conceive  ideals  in  almost 

85 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

every  branch  of  art,  after  which  all  the  other  peoples 
of  antiquity  had  striven  in  vain.  Until  he  can  throw 
some  light  on  this,  the  main  question  of  his  subject, 
the  historian  has  done  little  to  advance  us  in  the  true 
knowledge  of  Greece. 

Let  us  note  a  few  of  the  artistic  forms  invented  by 
the  Greek,  especially  in  literature.  We  have  already 
seen  that,  among  the  pre-Hellenic  nations  of  the 
Mediterranean  basin,  literature  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word  cannot  be  claimed  to  have  existed.  Egypt  cannot 
boast  of  a  single  literary  form,  even  less  so  Babylonia. 
At  the  very  outset  of  Greek  history  we  have  to  face  the 
problem  of  the  Homeric  epics,  so  true  and  perfect  in 
their  form  that  they  have  never  since  been  rivalled. 
When  we  shall  see  later  with  what  painful  and  in- 
effectual efforts  the  Middle  Ages  endeavored  to  again 
realize  the  lost  ideal  of  the  epic,  we  shall  have  a  true 
grasp  of  the  magnitude  of  this  the  first  achievement 
of  Greek  letters.  The  Greek  then  presents  us  with  a 
tragedy  perfectly  developed,  a  form  of  literary  expres- 
sion which  was  entirely  original,  and  in  speaking  of 
the  tragedy  we  have  a  very  good  opportunity  of  dis- 
proving the  common  idea  that  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  art 
is  perfect  rendering  of  Nature.  What  would  be  the 
result  of  a  faultless  reproduction  of  Nature  in  tragedy  ? 
Would  it  not  be  the  achievement  of  disastrously  com- 
plete illusion?  It  is  the  aim  of  the  poet  to  excite 
either  our  pity  or  our  terror,  but  only  in  a  certain  de- 
gree of  moderation.  Were  the  illusion  complete,  what 
audience  would  stand  such  a  play  as  the  "  Iphigenia  in 

86 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

Aulis  "  ?  Theatrical  reality  would  of  all  things  be  the 
most  intolerable;  it  would  at  the  same  time  be  in- 
effectual; for  it  could  never  hope  to  compass  the  hor- 
ror or  pity  experienced  in  real  life.  If  illusion  were 
what  we  really  desired,  we  should  rather  go  to  the 
operating  theatre  of  some  hospital,  or  visit  a  slaughter- 
house. It  is  clear  that  the  Greek  aimed  at  something 
very  different  when  his  sense  of  moderation  forbade 
him  to  represent  death  on  the  stage.  In  a  Greek  play 
murder  is  never  done  before  the  eyes  of  the  audience, 
and  if,  as  is  generally  the  case,  the  tragedy  must 
culminate  in  death,  the  supreme  act  takes  place  out 
of  sight  behind  the  scenes,  and  the  audience  is  only 
given  to  understand  indirectly  what  is  happening  or 
what  has  happened.  And  this  is  the  result  not  of  any 
religious  or  moral  scruple,  but  of  a  keen  artistic  sense 
of  what  is  befitting.  Modern  ideas  of  tragedy  are  not 
so  reserved,  and  often  lead  to  the  production  of  melo- 
drama, in  which  the  illusion  is  as  complete  as  it  is 
possible  to  make  it,  and  the  play  consequently  loses  its 
artistic  value.  Melodrama  and  literature  are  contra- 
dictions in  terms.  Let  the  reader  try  to  think  of  any 
melodrama  of  the  present  day  which  is  likely  to  be 
read  by  future  generations.  Our  children's  children 
will  not  read  "  The  Lights  of  London  "  or  "  The  Silver 
King  "  in  place  of  "  Hamlet,"  or,  at  least,  let  us  hope 
not.  Yet  those  two  plays  are  melodrama  carried  to  its 
perfection.  They  are  also  far  from  being  works  of  art. 
A  vitiated  conception  of  what  we  should  expect 
from  the  drama  has  been  conducive  to  several  other 

87 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

features  of  modern  theatrical  representations.  In 
order  to  heighten  the  illusion,  plays  are  over-staged, 
enormous  expense  is  incurred  in  obtaining  the  utmost 
correctness  of  historical  costume,  every  mechanical 
contrivance  is  requisitioned  to  produce  perfection  of 
scenic  effects;  and  yet  it  may  well  be  doubted  wheth- 
er a  latter-day  audience  listens  to  a  performance  of 
Shakespeare  with  the  keen  enjoyment  of  the  gather- 
ings at  the  old  "  Globe  "  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
when  the  scenery  was,  for  the  most  part,  left  to  the 
imagination  of  the  spectator. 

With  the  decadence  of  the  Roman  Empire  the  ideals 
of  the  drama  were  lost  with  those  of  the  rest  of  art  and 
literature.  As  we  have  seen  the  Middle  Ages  groping 
to  recover  the  epic,  so  we  can  watch  them  feeling 
about  tentatively  after  the  long  -  forgotten  dramatic 
forms,  or,  rather,  endeavoring  to  create  them  afresh. 
Their  success  was  very  qualified ;  popular  as  the  mys- 
tery play  may  have  been  in  its  day,  it  never  realized 
the  height  of  art.  It  was  a  vain  endeavor  to  crush 
religious  thought  into  an  uncongenial  form.  The 
miracles  and  mysteries  are  now  dead  to  all  save  those 
who  care  to  resuscitate  them  out  of  philological  or  his- 
torical interest. 

It  has  never  yet  been  our  good  fortune  to  see  any- 
thing like  an  adequate  explanation  of  how  it  was  that 
the  Greeks  were  enabled  to  create  de  toutes  pieces  the 
drama.  Books  dealing  with  Hellenic  literature  either 
ignore  the  problem  altogether,  although  the  problem 
is  one  which  we  cannot  afford  to  neglect,  or  else  fur- 

88 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

bish  up  some  solution  which  shivers  forlorn  in  spite 
of  its  ample  clothing  of  rhetoric.  Perhaps  this  in- 
difference to  the  great  fundamental  questions  of  Greek 
literature  is  less  astonishing  when  we  reflect  how  lit- 
tle has  been  done  to  clear  up  the  origins  of  English 
national  drama.  Surely  it  is  a  matter  for  surprise 
that  the  English,  of  all  modern  nations,  should  have 
produced  the  greatest  of  all  European  dramatic  litera- 
tures ;  that  a  country  in  which  the  outward  display  of 
emotion,  the  making  of  gestures,  is  steadily  suppressed 
from  the  earliest  age,  should  have  brought  forth  trage- 
dies and  comedies  which  can  stand  comparison  with 
the  models  of  ancient  Greece.  In  Italy,  where  we 
could  well  have  expected  to  witness  the  blossoming 
of  a  great  and  original  drama,  where  every-day  life 
is  dramatic,  in  a  land  of  animation  and  movement, 
there  is  nothing  to  tally  with  our  expectations.  These 
are  among  the  problems  which  lie  at  the  base  of  liter- 
ary criticism,  but  which,  so  far,  have  been  studiously 
avoided. 

It  is  chiefly  this  bold  differentiation  of  literary 
form  which  strikes  us  from  the  very  beginning  in 
Greek  letters.  By  the  time  that  Greek  literature  had 
begun  to  decline,  almost  every  form  known  to  us  in 
modern  times  had  been  developed  and  had  given  forth 
brilliant  examples.  We  have  added  very  little  to  these 
original  forms  created  by  Greece,  and  in  few  has  the 
same  pitch  of  excellence  been  attained.  The  history  of 
European  intellectual  progress  is  the  history  of  spread- 
ing Hellenization.     The  real  advance  does  not  begin 

89 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

until  the  rediscovery  of  Greek  forms  at  the  Renais- 
sance. It  was  the  recovery  of  the  old  forms  which 
gave  the  great  impetus  to  modern  literature.  The 
subject-matter  already  existed,  and  was  only  waiting 
for  a  befitting  setting.  The  great  invention  of  modern 
literature  is  the  novel,  which  does  not  really  find  its 
prototype  in  ancient  literature.  We  are  in  no  way 
indebted  to  the  novels  of  Herondas  and  Apuleius. 

We  have  already  said  how  little  has  been  done  to 
explain  the  origin  of  Greek  literary  forms.  Let  us 
reflect  for  a  while  why  so  little  has  been  done.  Liter- 
ary criticism  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy;  it  has  not  even 
made  the  progress  which  history  has  upon  scientific 
lines.  The  base  on  which  a  true  literary  criticism 
will  have  to  be  founded  is  the  psychology  of  nations, 
and  as  yet  little  has  been  done  in  this  direction.  It 
is  only  in  quite  modern  days  that  books  like  the 
Volkerpsychologie  of  Wundt  have  appeared;  and, 
valuable  as  these  books  may  be,  they  are  only  pioneers 
which  are  opening  up  the  first  tracks  through  a  prime- 
val waste  of  ignorance  and  prejudice.  A  man  like 
Professor  Wundt  has  to  deal  with  very  great  problems, 
however  simple,  almost  childish,  they  may  appear  at 
the  first  glance.  But  the  great  problems  of  Nature  gen- 
erally aim  at  the  explanation  of  the  commonplace. 
It  may  well  be  said"  that  the  genius  is  the  man  who 
can  solve  the  commonplace.  It  very  often  requires 
a  genius  to  perceive  that  great  questions  lie  in  the 
simplest  phenomena  of  every-day  observation.  It  re- 
quired a  Galileo  to  see  that  the  solution  of  the  riddle 

90 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

of  the  physical  universe  would  be  substantially  ad- 
vanced by  watching  the  falling  of  two  stones  of  un- 
equal magnitude  and  weight  from  the  top  of  the  Tow- 
er of  Pisa.    Many  had  sought  to  explain  the  startling, 
striking   appearance   of  comets;   no   one  thought   of 
looking  into  so  simple  and  every-day  a  thing  as  the 
comparative    velocity    of    falling    stones.       Perhaps 
the  reason  why  so  little  progress  has  been  made  in 
the  scientific  study  of  history  and  literature  is  that 
in  these  branches  of  learning  we  are  less  ready  to 
recognize  our  want  of  knowledge.     Many  people  will 
confront  you  with  the  statement  that  they  know  his- 
tory ;  they  would  not  venture  to  say  the  same  with  re- 
gard to  physics  or  another  branch  of  natural  science. 
In  effect  they  not  only  do  not  know  history,  but  are 
devoid  of  all  idea  of  what  there  is  to  know.    In  deal- 
ing with  questions  of  history  and  letters,  both,  as  we 
have  noted,  dependent  upon  psychology,  we  are  met 
with   another  considerable   difficulty.      All   our   gen- 
eralizations must  of  necessity  be  based  upon  sense 
impressions  which  we  have  worked  up  into  concepts. 
Now,  in  questions,  say,  of  physics,  these  sense  impres- 
sions may  be  obtained  readily,  and  can,  as  a  rule,  be 
reproduced   with   suitable   apparatus   in   any   labora- 
tory.    But  suppose  we  wish  to  investigate  a  question 
of  national  psychology,  we  have  no  laboratory  to  ap- 
peal to ;  we  must  seek  sense  impressions  in  the  world 
abroad.     In  order  to  comprehend  the  characteristics 
of  one's  own  nation,  one  must  subject  it  to  a  scruti- 
nizing comparison  with  other  nations.     How  difficult 

91 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

is  this  comparison  to  make.  How  few  have  even  the 
opportunity  of  making  it.  It  implies  a  long  sojourn 
in  foreign  countries  of  a  person  endowed  with  keen 
and  critical  faculties  of  observation,  and  a  mastery  of 
the  language  and  literature  of  those  countries.  These 
are  the  essentials,  and  how  rarely  are  they  fulfilled. 
But  without  comparison  after  this  manner  there  can 
be  no  real  advance.  In  dealing  with  an  ancient  lit- 
erature our  difficulties  are  increased  a  hundredfold. 
Direct  sense  impression  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  have, 
so  that  we  are  compelled  to  establish  an  analogy  with 
something  still  living  which  is  within  our  sphere  of 
observation.  In  such  questions,  moreover,  our  judg- 
ment is  especially  liable  to  be  led  away  by  national 
vanities  and  prejudices  and  personal  feelings.  It  is 
almost  as  impossible  for  an  Englishman  to  arrive  at 
a  just  appreciation  of  France  as  it  is  for  a  Frenchman 
to  give  an  unbiassed  opinion  upon  England.  The 
statements  of  both  are  certain  to  be  tinged  with  some- 
thing of  their  secular  prejudices,  something  of  their 
long-standing  antagonism.  This  contempt  often  leads 
to  the  neglect  of  comparison  altogether.  Let  us  take  a 
very  familiar  example.  Nothing  strikes  an  English- 
man abroad  as  do  the  gestures  with  which  all  those 
who  meet  him  punctuate  their  conversation.  The 
Continental  visitor  to  England  is  equally  struck  by 
the  absence  of  all  gesticulation.  Both  will  be  pretty 
certain  to  leap  at  an  uncharitable  explanation  of  this 
remarkable  diversity  of  manners.  As  the  Continental 
will  ascribe  the  Englishman's  lack  of  animation  to  a 

92 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

supposed  glacial  insularity  of  character,  the  English- 
man, with  equal  bias,  will  put  down  the  vivacity  of 
the  foreigner  to  a  morbidly  nervous  state  of  tempera- 
ment, or  dismiss  it  as  a  ridiculous  affectation.  Surely 
it  is  a  little  too  much  to  suppose  that  some  forty 
millions  of  French  people  are  suffering  from  shattered 
nerves,  not  to  speak  of  countless  millions  of  Germans, 
to  whom  at  the  same  time  we  attribute  the  most  un- 
nervous  stolidity.  These  are  problems  which  must 
be  faced  without  national  prejudice.  They  may,  per- 
haps, at  first  appear  almost  childish  in  their  simplicity, 
but,  as  we  have  already  said,  it  may  be  the  solution 
of  just  such  a  simple  problem  which  will  supply  us 
with  the  key  to  far  greater  questions.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  facts  in  the  history  of  Greek  thought 
that  the  Greeks  devoted  themselves  especially  to  the 
explanation  of  the  apparently  most  simple  phenomena, 
which  had  hitherto  been  looked  upon  with  contempt 
as  hardly  worthy  of  notice.  Another  illustration  of 
the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  the  excellence  of  Greek 
literature  can  readily  be  found  when  we  reflect  on  the 
difficulty  which  attaches  to  a  subject  even  more  famil- 
iar to  us.     We  mean  French  prose. 

Very  little  has  ever  been  done  to  explain  the  excel- 
lence of  French  prose — that  is  to  say,  how  it  is  that 
the  French  have  brought  their  prose  to  so  far  higher 
a  level  of  artistic  perfection  than  is  attained  by  Eng- 
lish prose.  In  English  writers  the  subjectiveness  of 
the  prose  has  done  much  to  destroy  its  artistic  beauty. 
When  we  come  to  poetry  we  find  the  very  reverse  is 

93 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

the  case.  Here  English  is  as  far  above  French  as  we 
have  seen  French  is  superior  to  English  with  regard  to 
prose.  In  poetry  alone  does  English  escape  from  the 
trammels  imposed  upon  it  by  its  subject,  and  it  is  just 
in  poetry  that  French  falls  a  victim  to  its  subjectiv- 
ity. In  modern  times  French  lyric  poetry  can  hardly 
claim  to  exist.  There  are  beautiful  pieces  by  Musset 
and  Victor  Hugo  and  many  others,  but  they  are  never 
quite  first  class.  Is  not  this  due  to  the  different  re- 
lation of  man  and  woman  in  France  ?  But  to  this  we 
shall  recur  when  speaking  more  particularly  of  France 
in  a  later  chapter.  The  best  way  of  realizing  the  great 
art  of  Greek  epics  is  to  compare  them  with  the  epics 
of  other  nations.  Not  long  after  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century,  attention  was  drawn  to  the  consid- 
erable amount  of  poetry  which  was  current  orally 
among  the  older  inhabitants  of  Finland,  and  was, 
with  the  advance  of  European  civilization,  in  immi- 
nent peril  of  lapsing  into  irrevocable  oblivion.  By 
the  successive  labors  of  two  Finnologues  of  eminent 
learning,  Topelius  and  Lonnrot,  a  great  quantity  of 
this  indigenous  Finnish  literature  was  saved;  most 
remarkable  is  the  celebrated  epic  the  "  Kalevala," 
which  excited  so  keen  an  interest  throughout  Europe 
that  it  was  translated  into  almost  every  European  lan- 
guage. Here  we  find  a  far  greater  effort  towards  dis- 
tinctive form  than  we  have  seen  in  previous  works 
of  popular  poetry;  there  is  a  fine  metre  running  all 
through  the  poem,  which,  nevertheless,  falls  short  of 
the  Homeric  epics  by  an  immeasurable  gap.     And 

94 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

what  is  the  reason  ?  The  epic  form  is  impaired  by  the 
introduction  of  a  mass  of  extraneous  matter,  which  de- 
tracts from  the  unity  of  the  poem. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Greeks  clung  to  their  distinct  literary  forms 
will  be  found  in  their  conception  of  an  ideal  histor- 
ical writing  such  as  we  have  in  Thucydides.  Read 
Thucydides,  and  then  take  up  a  volume  of  some 
modern  historical  work,  and  the  immense  difference 
of  method  between  the  two  authors  will  be  at  once 
apparent.  We  do  not  intend  to  institute  a  compari- 
son in  disparagement  of  modern  historians;  all  that 
we  would  wish  to  show  is  that  their  aim  and  manner 
of  proceeding  are  essentially  different.  In  modern 
writers  the  historic  form  is  crushed  by  the  subjective- 
ness  of  the  historian  himself;  the  book  is  a  work  of 
practical  didactic  utility,  and  does  not  pretend  to  be- 
ing a  work  of  art.  Let  us  take  a  typical  example  of 
difference  of  methods.  A  latter-day  writer  of  history 
in  dealing  with,  for  instance,  a  party  question,  takes 
up  a  stand  outside  his  subject.  He  will  express  in  his 
own  words  what  he  considers  to  have  been  the  opinion 
of  the  Whigs,  or  the  tenets  of  the  Tories.  In  Thucyd- 
ides there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  personality  of 
the  author  is  relegated  to  the  background,  and  it  is 
the  historical  characters  themselves  who  speak  and 
give  us  an  insight  into  party  politics.  We  are  present 
at  a  debate  in  the  Ecclesia  (Assembly),  and  hear  the 
great  men  of  the  day  themselves  debating  the  pros 
and  cons  of  going  to  war.     The  speeches  reported  are 

95 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

not  verbatim  notes  of  what  actually  took  place;  they 
are  very  possibly  drawn,  as  far  as  language  is  con- 
cerned, from  the  imagination  of  the  author.  This  is 
the  artistic  method  of  writing  history.  It  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  exceedingly  lifelike,  and  any  one 
who  has  read  the  discussion  in  Thucydides  which  pre- 
cedes the  Sicilian  expedition  is  not  likely  to  forget 
it.  Whether  it  is  the  best  method  with  a  view  to 
subjective  utility  is  beyond  the  question.  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  estimate  comparative  merits;  nearly  all  our 
great  historical  works  deal  with  past  events ;  Thucyd- 
ides is  the  historian  of  his  own  day.  But  what  is 
essential  is  that  Thucydides  has  produced  a  work  of 
art,  and  is  the  first  to  entirely  differentiate  history 
and  to  give  it  its  particular  and  appropriate  form. 

It  is  precisely  this  form  that  is  difficult  of  attain- 
ment. Many  nations  of  modern  Europe,  as  well  as 
of  antiquity,  have  searched  for  it  in  vain.  Especially 
is  this  true  of  literary  formlessness.  We  find  peo- 
ples existing  for  whole  centuries  without  anything  at 
all  deserving  of  the  name  of  a  national  literature.  We 
cannot  doubt  that  among  them  are  very  many  people 
with  strong  mental  intellectual  qualities,  and  yet  they 
succeed  in  producing  nothing.  Is  not  this  because 
they  fail  to  find  the  appropriate  form  in  which  to 
embody  their  higher  aspirations?  Among  many  of 
the  nations  of  eastern  Europe,  for  instance,  we  find 
an  astounding  faculty  for  brilliant  conversation.  In 
every-day  talk  it  is  often  one's  good  fortune  to  hear 
gems  of  thought  let  fall  with  the  utmost  nonchalance. 

96 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

One  would  expect  to  find  this  brilliant  wit  reflected 
in  an  equally  brilliant  literature.  But  nothing  of  this 
kind  happens,  and  it  never  reaches  paper,  and  if  ever 
it  does,  appears  stiff,  awkward,  and  uninteresting  in 
the  extreme.  And  what  is  the  cause?  There  is  no 
kind  of  literary  form  to  give  it  appropriate  expression. 
It  is  mere  parlature;  it  is  not  literature. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  it  is  especially  interesting  to 
note  the  ineffective  struggle  to  reach  this  form.  Ob- 
jective material  is  there  in  abundance.  There  are 
adventures  and  events  enough  to  provide  a  whole  li- 
brary of  epics.  Nevertheless,  the  media3val  romances 
are  singularly  disappointing,  and  always  because  the 
form  is  indistinct  and  imperfect.  ~No  one  would  for 
an  instant  deny  that  the  "  Chanson  de  Eoland  "  con- 
tains the  most  brilliant  inspired  passages.  It  is  in 
the  whole  that  it  is  disappointing.  The  real  idea  of 
an  epic  has  become  blurred,  and  an  epical  poem  is 
likely  enough  to  contain  disquisitions  on  metaphys- 
ical and  semi-scientific  subjects,  an  intermixture  of 
religion  and  of  almost  anything  else.  It  becomes 
finally  an  inextricable  maze,  in  which  the  medieval 
clerk  tries  to  give  vent  to  his  views  and  ideas  upon 
almost  every  conceivable  matter.  Modern  poets,  with 
a  truer  appreciation  of  their  art,  have  taken  the 
ground-ideas  of  very  many  of  those  early  romances, 
washed  them  free  of  all  their  unromantic  dross,  and 
served  them  up  for  us  in  a  clean-cut  poetic  form.  But 
any  one  who  has  had  his  imagination  captivated  by, 
say,  the  "  Idyls  of  the  King  "  of  Tennyson,  and  has 

7  97 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

turned  back  to  sec  what  the  mediaeval  poems  of  the 
Arthurian  circle  have  made  of  the  same  material, 
would  recognize  at  once  the  immeasurable  superiority 
of  the  modern  poet.  Men  of  decided  ability  there 
were  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  and  with  much  of 
value  to  impart,  but  they  were  unable  to  find  their 
true  literary  form,  and  accordingly  were  compelled 
either  to  hold  their  peace  or  to  express  themselves  in 
an  uncongenial  manner,  and  very  often  to  become 
grotesque. 

It  is  the  form  which  makes  the  artist,  as  it  is  the 
artist  who  makes  the  form.  Consider  what  would 
have  been  a  Wagner  without  his  particular  form.  His 
glory  is  in  having  originated  a  new  form  of  operatic 
expression.  Had  he  been  forced  to  adopt  one  of  the 
already  existing  forms  of  opera,  had  he  been  com- 
pelled to  write,  say,  sonatas  instead  of  discovering  the 
famous  leitmotiv-music,  he  must  have  ended  in  fiasco. 
A  similar  example  is  afforded  by  Mr.  Whistler,  the 
painter. 

In  Greek  philosophy  we  shall  also  observe  this  same 
conception  of  form,  bat  in  philosophy  we  are  wont 
to  give  it  the  name  of  system;  it  is  the  creation  of 
one  dominant  principle  from  which  radiate  all  other 
thoughts  and  conceptions.  The  Greek  was  the  first  to 
distinguish  between  a  systematic  philosophy  and  the 
collections  of  apophthegms  or  wise  sayings  which  had 
hitherto  been  the  supreme  achievement  of  other  na- 
tions in  the  direction  of  philosophy.  To  the  Greeks 
we  owe  a  system  of  thought ;  the  other  nations  of  an- 

98 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

tiquity  have  no  doubt  bequeathed  us  learned  saws  and 
isolated  thoughts  in  abundance.  They  were  mere 
sparks,  mere  scintillations  which  for  an  instant  of 
time  illumine  the  dark  abyss  of  human  existence ;  the 
Greek  has  kindled  a  steady-burning  flame  by  which 
we  may  pursue  our  investigations.  In  a  word,  to  the 
Greek  alone  we  owe  system.  The  Greek  alone  was  able 
to  generalize,  and  we  shall  see  later  on  with  what 
power  he  did  so  in  the  realm  of  natural  science. 

Already  the  early  pre-Socratic  writers,  the  philos- 
ophers of  the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries  B.C.,  had  seized 
upon  the  two  main  ideas,  on  the  elaboration  of  which 
all  later  philosophies  depend.  These  are  the  ideas  of 
"  being  "  and  "  becoming  "  which  we  owe  to  Parnien- 
ides  and  Heraclitus  respectively.  To  all  this  philo- 
sophic problems  come  back:  they  are  all  problems  of 
"  static  "  or  of  "  dynamic  "  forces,  and  thus  depend 
upon  the  original  idea  of  Parmenides,  or  they  go  back 
to  Heraclitus  for  their  basis.  The  early  Greek  had 
thus  hit  upon  the  soul  of  philosophy.  Very  shortly 
after  came  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  who  laid 
the  foundations  of  all  researches  into  human  thought. 
Hitherto  all  researches  had  been  directed,  as  it  were, 
to  the  thought  of  the  world.  The  philosophers  now 
began  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  mind  itself,  and 
to  look  into  the  working  of  man's  thought.  In  their 
opinion  it  was  useless  to  pursue  any  further  their  re- 
searches into  the  great  questions  of  the  causes  of  the 
world  until  they  should  have  discovered  the  value  of 
their  instrument  of  thinking  itself.     It  is  this  very 

99 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

idea  which  lies  at  the  root  of  Kant  and  his  philo- 
sophical school.  The  chief  thought  of  these  men  was 
the  laying  down  of  the  rule  of  relation  between  general 
and  particular  concepts,  a  relation  without  which 
there  is  no  philosophic  thinking  at  all.  The  prede- 
cessors of  the  Greek  philosophers  had  never  been  able 
to  arrive  at  any  such  distinction.  Their  isolated  ideas 
they  had  embodied  in  Dicta,  in  semi-scientific  myths 
and  stories,  but  these  wise  sayings  were  devoid  of  all 
power  of  correlation  or  philosophical  power. 

In  science  the  Greek  supplied  the  same  artistic  prin- 
ciples. As  we  have  seen  in  former  chapters,  many 
of  the  great  nations  of  antiquity  had  of  necessity  ac- 
cumulated masses  of  empirical  observations,  but  sys- 
tem they  were  never  able  to  attain.  In  all  their 
works  there  is  no  trace  of  correlation  or  co-ordination. 
Science,  if  looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  mere 
formal  appearance,  may  very  properly  be  considered 
to  be  an  increasing  power  of  mental  "  stenography." 
As  our  ability  to  generalize  becomes  greater,  so  the 
bulk  of  our  scientific  knowledge  is  continually  re- 
duced. We  may  rightly  imagine  that,  say,  in  some 
five  hundred  years,  sciences  which  now  fill  some  three 
or  four  folio  volumes  may  by  generalization  be  re- 
duced within  the  covers  of  a  thin  octavo.  It  is  quite 
erroneous  to  suppose  that  as  science  progresses  it  must 
necessarily  increase  in  mass.  It  is  frequently  said, 
nevertheless,  that  if  science  continues  to  advance  at 
its  present  rate,  scientists  will  be  compelled  to  special- 
ize in  very  narrow  limits,  and  to  devote  themselves  to 

100 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

some  outlying  branch  of  science  exclusively.  All  this 
is  essentially  untrue.  In  order  to  obtain  a  concrete 
idea,  only  look  at  the  bulky  books  published  on  natural 
philosophy  before  and  after  the  appearance  of  New- 
ton's small  treatise  on  natural  philosophy,  his  Prin- 
cipia  (1687),  and  you  are  at  once  struck  by  the  im- 
mense reduction  which  has  taken  place.  By  this  fac- 
ulty for  mental  stenography,  by  powerful  and  far- 
reaching  generalization,  whole  masses  of  material  are 
narrowed  into  the  smallest  possible  space.  Let  us 
take  a  very  simple  example.  Imagine  trigonometry 
before  the  discovery  of  the  famous  Pythagorean  the- 
orem, by  which  the  square  on  the  hypothenuse  of  a 
right-angle  triangle  is  proved  to  be  equal  to  the  sum 
of  the  squares  on  the  other  two  sides.  The  Egyptians, 
although  able  from  sheer  empirical  data  to  compute 
the  length  of  the  third  side  of  a  few  rectangular  trian- 
gles whose  two  other  sides  were  given,  were  yet  unable 
to  make  this  computation  for  any  triangle  of  that  kind. 
What  the  Egyptian  would  have  required  whole  shops 
full  of  papyrus  to  express,  was  reduced  by  the  Greek 
formula  to  the  brief  expression  a2  -\-  b2  =  c2.  Thus 
also  the  very  converse  of  the  common  idea  is  truth. 
The  more  science  advances,  the  less  will  the  scientist 
require  to  specialize,  in  the  old  sense  of  the  word. 

We  have  seen  during  the  last  century  men  of  the 
greatest  scientific  genius,  but  not  one  of  them  can  be 
said  to  have  been  a  specialist.  Helmholtz,  Virchow, 
Darwin,  Bunsen,  Lord  Kelvin,  all  spread  their  inves- 
tigations over  wide  spheres  of  science,  and  their  power 

101 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

of  generalization  was  thus  vastly  increased.  It  is  the 
privilege  of  the  human  mind  to  generalize.  In  art  the 
case  is  entirely  different.  Our  muscles  cannot  gener- 
alize, and  must  be  constantly  trained  to  their  special  ob- 
jects. How  rare  it  is  to  find  even  an  eminent  sculptor 
who  is  an  eminent  painter.  It  is  to  the  Greek  that  we 
owe  the  power  of  scientific  generalization.  We  must, 
however,  not  suppose  that  the  Greek  was  a  despiser  of 
particular  facts.  We  have  only  to  read  the  works  of 
Aristotle  on  natural  history  to  have  an  idea  of  the 
immense  labor  he  must  have  undergone  in  the  col- 
lection of  facts.  He  always  went  to  the  direct  source 
of  knowledge;  he  must  have  gathered  his  informa- 
tion at  first  hand  from  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 
He  must  have  talked  with  fishermen  and  conversed 
with  farmers  and  cattle-breeders,  fowlers  and  hunters. 
True,  many  a  sage  in  Asia  had  done  the  same  before 
Aristotle.  The  Chinese  collected  vast,  unwieldy  store- 
houses and  encyclopaedias  of  facts.  But  Aristotle  dif- 
fers from  them  in  the  unerring  way  in  which  he  can 
throw  his  knowledge  together  and  at  once  seize  upon 
the  guiding  generality  which  runs  through  it  all.  In 
many  instances  Aristotle  advances  theories  which  mod- 
ern science  is  still  unable  either  to  confirm  or  refute. 
He  systematized  science.  What  the  great  Greek  ar- 
tists and  poets  did  for  art  and  poetry,  Aristotle  and  his 
disciples  did  for  science.  They  gave  it,  once  for  ever, 
the  form  or  system,  without  which  knowledge  remains 
powerless,  because  shapeless.  The  moderns  have  point- 
ed out  many  a  mistake  in  the  scientific  writings  of 

102 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

Aristotle,  and  Whewell  has  even  gone  to  the  extent 
of  saying  generally  that  he  tried  to  hang  a  real  pitcher 
on  to  a  painted  nail.  However,  Aristotle  only  erred, 
just  as  "  omniscient "  Whewell  erred,  because  he  was 
human.  His  method  and  system  are  still  the  guiding 
stars  of  scientific  thinking.  He  fully  appreciated  in- 
ductive methods,  and  gave  its  true  value  to  thinking 
deductive.  The  form  of  strict  scientific  thought  is  still 
the  same  that  he  taught  it  to  be  when  walking  up  and 
down  in  the  Lyceum  of  Athens  over  two  thousand 
years  ago. 


VI 

INTELLECTUAL    SUCCESS.— II 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  an  over  -  exuberant  growth  of  in- 
tellectuality deprives  nations  of  much  of  that  grit  and 
rough  energy  without  which  abiding  commonwealths  can- 
not be  established.  Thus  the  Hellenes,  the  Renaissance 
Italians,  the  eighteenth  -  century  Germans,  etc.,  who  all 
astounded,  and  still  astound,  the  world  with  their  un- 
paralleled intellectual  achievements,  were  all  unable  to 
hold  their  own,  and  were  either  ruined  or  came  very  near 
being  so.  Causes  of  intellectual  greatness.  Not  to  be 
found  in  race,  nor  in  "  evolution,"  which  are  mere  words. 
Historical  causes. 

Before  entering  on  an  investigation  of  the  causes 
of  intellectual  success,  we  hold  it  necessary  to  premise 
a  few  remarks  on  the  contrast  between  will  and  intel- 
lectual power.  Nature  has  drawn  a  very  clean-cut 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  two  powers.  In  the 
brute  creation  we  may  see  volition  at  work  untram- 
melled. It  is  not  our  business  here  to  discuss  the 
vexed  question  of  instinct,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that 
when  once  the  animal  has  conceived  some  particular 
desire,  the  whole  of  its  energies,  the  whole  of  its  being, 
is  centred  on  the  accomplishment  of  that  desire.  No 
matter  what  hindrances,  what  obstacles  be  strewn 
upon  its  path,  the  animal  pushes  on  blindly  to  the 
achievement  of  its  object.     Especially  interesting  is 

104 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

it  to  watch  the  action  of  undiluted  will-power  in  the 
case  of  gregarious  animals,  where  the  community, 
fired  by  the  same  wish,  is  able  to  bring  most  formid- 
able forces  to  bear.  There  is  no  reasoning  when  once 
the  desire  has  flashed  across  the  animal  brain.  Con- 
sider the  migrant  birds  when  once  they  feel  that  it  is 
time  to  be  moving  southward ;  nothing  can  stay  them. 
Storms  and  high  winds  will  not  make  them  postpone 
for  one  hour  the  moment  of  their  leave  -  taking. 
Theirs  is  not  to  reason  out  their  travelling  prospects, 
to  balance  the  risks  of  delay  against  the  risks  of  voy- 
age by  inclement  weather.  They  must  obey  the  im- 
perious call  of  their  volition,  unquestioning  and  un- 
reasoning. Every  one  must  remember  years  when 
thousands  of  swallows  have  been  driven  back  to  perish 
upon  the  coasts,  all  for  having  precipitated  their  jour- 
ney by  a  few  hours.  The  lemmings  of  Sweden,  ad- 
vancing over  hill  and  water  straight  for  the  sea,  where 
all  of  them  are  drowned,  are  the  martyrs  of  a  domi- 
nant will-power.  In  every  branch  of  animal  life  we 
may  observe  the  same  phenomena  in  a  more  or  less 
striking  degree.  Volition  is  followed  by  headlong  ac- 
tion which  cannot  be  checked  by  any  sense  of  shame 
or  even  fear.  It  is  this  gigantic  development  of  will- 
power alone  which  enables  creatures  like  ants  and 
bees  to  accomplish  works  which  man  would  consider  a 
glory.  But  these  works  are,  as  a  rule,  carried  out  at 
a  cost  of  life  and  limb  which  man,  endowed  with 
reasoning  power,  and  refusing  to  be  entirely  enslaved 
by  his  desires,  would  avoid  through  some  intelligent 

105 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

expedient.  The  life  of  an  animal,  however,  turns 
entirely  upon  the  carrying  out  of  its  specific  duty, 
and  if  it  is  hindered  in  this,  life  is,  as  a  rule,  the 
penalty. 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  man  to  be  able  to  dominate 
his  will-power  instead  of  allowing  his  will-power  to 
entirely  master  him.  But  this  prerogative  is  not 
shared  by  all  mankind  in  an  equal  degree.  The 
balance  between  will-power  and  intellect  is  rarely,  if 
ever,  level ;  it  sometimes  dips  in  the  direction  of  the 
former,  sometimes  of  the  latter.  We  have  here  to 
treat  of  nations,  and  not  of  individuals,  and  we  shall 
find  the  distinction  clearly  marked  between  what  we 
may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  call  the  volitional  na- 
tions and  the  intellectual  nations.  To  the  former  class 
belong  the  Romans  and  the  English.  To  the  latter, 
in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  belong  most  of  the  coun- 
tries of  contemporary  Continental  Europe,  and  to  it  be- 
longed the  Italians  of  the  Renaissance  and  the  ancient 
Greeks. 

No  one  can  deny  that  the  over-intellectualization  of 
a  nation  entails  the  loss  of  a  great  deal  of  that  grit 
and  rough  energy  which  are  necessary  in  the  struggle 
for  existence.  We  find  the  Greeks,  after  a  short 
period,  during  which  their  intellectual  activity  was 
displayed  with  unparalleled  brilliance,  falling  vic- 
tims to  the  invader;  political  steadfastness  and  in- 
tegrity are  missing,  and  treachery  is  rife.  We  see 
the  same  thing  again  among  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth century  Renaissance  Italians,  whose  marvellous 

106 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

outburst  of  intellectual  vigor  is  quickly  followed  by 
national  apathy.  Once  more,  the  same  tiling  hap- 
pens with  the  Eighteenth-century  Germans.  It  is  then 
that  German  literature  grew  up  in  a  very  few  years, 
after  centuries  of  almost  complete  silence.  But  these 
prodigies  of  art  are  not  accompanied  by  any  corre- 
sponding move  forward  in  the  growth  of  national 
unity.  Germany  is,  then,  even  more  dismembered 
and  torn  by  internal  dissensions  than  ever.  The  Ger- 
mans themselves  appear  politically  enervated,  atro- 
phied. Every  petty  German  princelet  is  able  to  sell 
his  subjects  with  impunity  to  the  highest  bidder. 
There  scarcely  seems  any  one  to  utter  a  word  of  pro- 
test, and  German  troops  are  bartered  to  any  power 
whose  purse  is  deep  enough  to  pay  for  them.  Eng- 
land is  an  especially  good  customer  in  this  military 
slave-market,  and  Hessian  regiments  are  employed 
by  her  in  her  unavailing  attempts  to  keep  down  the 
insurgents  in  her  revolted  American  colonies.  Eng- 
lish subsidies  keep  the  heads  of  many  a  minor  Ger- 
man sovereign  above  water.  But  Germany  had  not 
gone  absolutely  to  wreck  and  ruin  when  there  came 
the  battle  of  Jena,  October,  1806,  which  in  one  day 
brought  her  to  the  lowest  verge  of  humiliation ;  it  also 
called  her  to  her  senses  before  it  was  too  late.  Ger- 
mans began  to  see  that,  if  you  require  to  keep  a 
place  in  the  world,  you  must  have  something  of  a 
more  virile  fibre  than  mere  Gemutli,  Gefiihl,  and 
Idealismus,  something  more  than  an  eternal  adora- 
tion of  abstract  Schonheit.     The  day  of  Jena  was  the 

107 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

foundation  of  German  greatness.  A  sudden  change 
came  over  German  minds,  and  they  began  to  strike 
out  the  new  path  which  was  to  lead  them  on  the 
road  to  Sedan  and  the  capitulation  of  Paris.  With- 
out abandoning  his  intellectual  ambitions,  the  Ger- 
man began  to  cast  aside  the  unpractical  exaggera- 
tions to  which  he  had  carried  them,  and  to  take  a 
more  matter-of-fact  and  worldly  view  of  life. 

It  is  very  questionable  whether  nations  ever  have 
been,  or  ever  will  be,  able  to  maintain  a  mean  between 
intellect  and  will-power;  of  all  modern  nations,  the 
Germans  have  certainly  come  nearest  to  the  attain- 
ment of  such  an  ideal.  The  Americans  have  not 
reached  it,  as  a  whole,  though  doubtless  there  are 
many  men  in  the  Eastern  States  who  may  claim 
to  have  reached  it  individually.  We  are,  however, 
not  dealing  with  individuals,  but  with  nations.  This 
balance  between  intellect  and  volition  is  rare  enough 
even  in  single  persons,  and  when  it  does  occur  it  pro- 
duces such  men  as  Napoleon  or  Bismarck.  Napoleon 
had  an  iron  will,  rather  a  will  of  hardest  tempered 
steel,  but  it  was  allied  to  a  military  and  political 
genius  of  the  first  order. 

Let  us  pass  on  to  investigate  the  nations  gifted  with 
superabundant  will-power.  Typical  are  the  English, 
and  when  once  this  leading  trait  of  all-predominating 
will-power  is  grasped,  it  will  serve  as  a  lever  to  solve 
many  of  the  most  interesting  problems  of  English 
national  psychology.  In  England  we  have  the  true 
cult  of  will-power.     The  Englishman's  idea  is  that  the 

108 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

world  is  ruled  by  character,  by  will,  and  in  order  to 
secure  himself  that  dominion,  he  applies  himself  to 
the  development  of  those  qualities.  The  world,  how- 
ever, as  we  shall  later  on  see,  cannot  be  governed  by 
will  alone.  This  hypertrophy  of  the  will-power  can, 
indeed,  claim  manifold  advantages.  It  is  to  this  that 
the  Englishman  owes  that  persistent  bull-dog  tenacity 
which  he  sets  on  high  as  his  ideal.  It  is  an  ideal 
which  will  carry  a  man  far  in  business,  will  permit 
him  to  hold  on  through  years  of  comparative  ill-suc- 
cess, until  he  finally  succeeds.  It  is  to  this  quality 
that  the  Englishman  owes,  no  doubt,  in  no  small  de- 
gree, his  success  as  a  colonist  and  as  an  empire-builder. 
It  is  the  quality  which  will  keep  a  man  at  his  post 
in  the  distant  out-stations  of  civilization  and  make 
him  settle  far  away  from  home. 

It  is  the  superabundance  of  this  quality  which  will 
go  far  to  explain  the  many  anomalies  of  English  life 
and  customs.  Erom  the  very  earliest  childhood  the 
English  boy  is  subjected  to  methodical  will-culture; 
he  is  soon  trained  to  suppress  to  the  uttermost  all 
external  signs  of  emotion;  he  is  habituated  to  seeing 
his  future  in  the  exercise  of  his  will-power ;  and  when 
he  goes  to  school  he  is  practically  given  over  to  his 
own  initiative.  At  fifteen  he  already  feels  oppressed 
by  the  responsibility  of  his  own  career;  the  whole 
of  his  education  runs  on  profoundly  anti  -  Continental 
lines;  he  is  not  at  all  discouraged  in  the  idea  that  his 
school  is  intended  to  develop  his  pluck  and  resistance 
very  much  more  than  his  intellectual  capacities.     At 

100 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

the  time  when  a  French  boy,  perhaps  intellectually 
far  more  advanced,  is  yet  a  child  in  character,  the 
English  boy  is  already  in  possession  of  the  qualities 
which  are  to  carry  him  through  life.  His  mental 
equipage  may  not  be  very  heavy,  but  he  has  an  energy 
a  toute  epreuve.  Surely  there  is  much  in  all  this  to 
account  for  the  gloom  which  overhangs  most  circles 
of  English  private  life.  It  is  in  the  youth  of  a  coun- 
try, careless  of  the  morrow,  that  lies  the  cheerfulness 
of  a  people.  The  English  boy  is  not  careless  of  the 
morrow;  he  feels  the  responsibilities  of  man's  estate, 
and  nothing  ages  so  much  as  responsibility.  Surely 
there  is  something  much  more  logical  in  this  expla- 
nation than  in  the  pseudo-psychology  of  Professor 
Boutmy,  of  Paris,  who  ascribes  all  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  English  character  to  the  most  absurd  climatic  influ- 
ences. But,  like  many  latter-day  philosophers  on  both 
sides  of  the  Channel,  he  draws  the  data  for  his  com- 
parisons in  great  measure  from  books,  and  books  do 
not,  as  a  rule,  give  a  true  reflection  of  national  life. 
The  French  novel  accounts  for  the  numberless  carica- 
tures of  French  life  which  people  the  English  brain, 
but  the  gulf  between  the  French  novel  and  French  life 
is  as  wide  as  the  gulf  between  earth  and  heaven.  The 
French  novel  gives  a  picture  of  French  life  much  like 
the  image  which  the  convex  mirror  gives  of  the  human 
form. 

The  idealization  of  will-power  has  played  no  in- 
significant role  in  the  growth  of  the  English  constitu- 
tion.    In  no  modern  state,  save  England,  has  the  ac- 

110 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

tion  of  will-power  been  allowed  so  free  a  course. 
Where  other  European  countries  have  introduced  bu- 
reaucratic methods,  England  has  adhered  to  what  we 
may  perhaps  call  volitional  methods.  What  could 
be  more  foreign  to  the  Continental  mind  than  the 
growth  of  English  judge-made  law  ?  Continental  law 
and  procedure  have,  through  the  action  of  intellect, 
long  been  reduced  to  a  code,  while  in  England  the 
judge  retains  not  only  the  prerogative  of  law  admin- 
istration, but  also  of  law-making.  Law,  as  it  were, 
has  been  left  largely  to  the  will  of  English  judges. 

This  very  brief  outline  of  the  action  of  a  super- 
developed  volition  upon  the  progress  of  a  nation  will 
serve  as  an  excellent  basis  of  comparison  against 
which  the  institutions  of  Continental  nations,  the  in- 
tellectual nations  par  excellence,  should  show  up  in 
bold  relief.  We  shall  later  have  an  opportunity  of 
amplifying  what  we  have  to  say  of  England.  For  the 
nonce  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  investigation  of 
the  causes,  results,  and  methods  of  intellectual  suc- 
cess. 

We  have  already  shown  that  the  downfall  of  the 
Greek  states  may  to  no  mean  extent  be  attributed  to 
their  over-intellectual ization.  Consider  for  a  moment 
the  effect  of  this  abnormal  culture  of  intellect  on  the 
Greek  character  in  general.  The  artistic  tempera- 
ment must  certainly  have  been  distributed  through 
the  population  <>f  the  Greek  city-states  to  an  extent 
which  at  the  presenl  day  we  have  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  realizing.     Even  in  latter-day  France,  where  esprit 

111 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

is  spread  over  almost  every  class  of  society,  there  is, 
nevertheless,  nothing  like  a  parallel.  Think  of  the 
vast  theatre  of  Dionysus  at  Athens,  which  could  hold 
almost  the  whole  population  of  the  city,  packed  to  over- 
flowing with  an  enthusiastic  and  really  appreciative 
audience,  that  never  missed  a  point,  however  subtle, 
either  in  comedy  or  tragedy;  and  we  shall  probably 
gain  some  faint  idea  of  what  the  inhabitants  of  a  Hel- 
lenic city-state  were  intellectually.  But  the  abuse  of 
intellect  brings  its  inevitable  consequences.  This  ex- 
aggerated artistic  temperament  hates  the  rough  contact 
of  real  life.  It  engenders  an  over  -  sensitiveness  to 
which  physical  hardships  become  intolerably  repug- 
nant. It  creates  what  the  French  have  so  aptly  termed 
I'ame  du  jouisseur.  We  can  very  well  imagine  how  to 
the  subtle  mind  of  the  Greek  of  the  period  of  de- 
cadence any  decided  course  of  action  became  difficult, 
if  not  impossible.  The  fault  with  him  was  not  that 
he  was  not  able  to  grasp  the  political  questions  with 
which  he  was  confronted,  but  that  he  grasped  them  so 
well  that  he  was  able  to  conceive  endless  solutions 
to  them.  Ways  out  of  his  difficulties  he  could  find 
in  numbers;  but  he  lacked  the  will-power  and  deter- 
mination to  carry  out  any  one  of  them  with  con- 
sistency. He  could  see  not  only  one  side  of  a  ques- 
tion, but  infinite  sides.  His  misfortune  was  to  see  not 
only  the  pros  of  a  course  of  action,  but  the  cons  too; 
and  by  the  time  the  balancing  of  this  advantage  against 
that  drawback  was  complete,  the  moment  for  action 
was  gone  by.    He  had  to  pay  the  penalty  for  his  over- 

112 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

subtlety,  which  could  not  only  split  a  hair,  but  split 
again  into  five  or  six  the  hair  which  had  already  been 
split  countless  times  before.  It  was  thus  that  the 
Greek,  after  the  Roman  conquest,  became  the  little 
Grceculus  of  his  victor,  who  was  found  useful  as  a 
tutor  or  as  an  office-clerk,  to  be  treated  with  a  certain 
sort  of  mild  contempt.  We  can  quite  understand  the 
double  current  of  feeling  which  we  see  running 
through  Roman  minds,  an  admiration  of  Hellenic  cul- 
ture at  its  best,  the  culture  on  which  all  Roman  intel- 
lectual progress  was  based,  and  a  contemptuous  dis- 
dain for  its  latter-day  representatives.  The  Greek, 
under  the  later  Roman  Republic  and  the  beginning  of 
the  Empire,  stood  very  much  upon  the  same  footing 
as  the  babu  of  contemporary  India,  another  very  typ- 
ical example  of  the  effects  of  over-intellectuality. 

In  the  city-states  of  Italy  under  the  Renaissance 
every  one  was  an  artist,  men  and  women,  we  might 
even  say  children;  for  many  a  genius  of  the  Renais- 
sance began  to  display  his  powers  at  a  precociously 
early  age.  If  every  citizen  was  not  an  author  of 
artistic  productions,  he  was  at  least  a  refined  con- 
noisseur. In  art,  as  we  have  seen,  individualization 
is  all-important — it  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  art;  but 
the  Renaissance  Italian  carried  this  individuality  be- 
yond the  domain  of  art  into  every  sphere  of  practical 
and  political  life.  His  whole  being  was  revolted  by 
the  idea  of  a  syndicate.  He  could  as  little  conceive 
that  any  advantage  should  arise  in  matters  political 
from  union  as  he  could  imagine  that  a  masterpiece  of 
8  113 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

art  could  be  created  by  the  collaboration  of  several 
separate  artists.  The  national  unity  of  Italy  appear- 
ed as  great  an  absurdity  to  him  as  would  have  seemed 
the  execution  of  a  statue  by  a  combination  of  several 
workmen.  It  became  his  ambition  to  multiply  politi- 
cal individualities  as  it  had  hitherto  been  his  business 
to  multiply  artistic  individualities.  Concerted  action 
on  the  part  of  the  Italian  city-states  scarcely  entered 
his  mind.  When  such  concerted  action  did  take  place 
it  was  never  complete,  never  unanimous,  and  was  only 
performed  at  a  moment  of  imminent  and  overwhelm- 
ing danger.  Directly  immediate  peril  had  disappear- 
ed this  momentary  union  collapsed,  and  the  various 
small  states  reassumed  their  normal  state  of  inter- 
necine hostility.  There  was  continual  war  of  Pisa 
against  Florence,  of  Genoa  against  Venice,  of  Lucca 
against  Arezzo,  in  fact  of  every  city  against  every 
other  city.  As  Aristotle  has  well  said,  with  that  keen 
and  astounding  insight  into  the  very  heart  of  things 
which  characterizes  his  remarks  on  almost  every  sub- 
ject he  may  happen  to  handle,  Greece  united  could 
have  ruled  the  world.  With  how  much  more  truth 
might  the  same  have  been  said  of  the  Italians  at  the 
Renaissance.  But  this  want  of  union  was  also  the 
essential  of  their  artistic  pre-eminence.  Italy  was  re- 
dundant with  the  greatest  men  of  genius  that  have 
been  known  to  modern  times.  But  the  very  passion 
for  individuality  which  gave  birth  to  Lionardo  da 
Vinci,  to  Leone  Battista  Alberti,  to  Rafael,  to  Michael 
Angelo  Buonarroti,  to  Machiavelli,  to  Giordano  Bruno, 

114 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

produced  as  a  necessary  pendant  such  types  as  the  Sf  or- 
zas  and  Borgias.  The  Italians,  sunk  in  artistic  ab- 
straction, fell  a  prey  to  a  handful  of  vile,  and  profli- 
gate, and  often  illiterate  despots,  whose  yoke  the  want 
of  political  cohesion  and  decision  among  the  people 
of  Italy  would  not  permit  them  to  shake  off.  How 
similar,  how  strikingly  parallel,  was  the  state  of  af- 
fairs in  Germany  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  show. 

The  most  ingenious  books  have  been  written  en- 
deavoriag  to  apply  the  theory  of  race  to  the  explana- 
tion of  the  rise  of  intellect  among  nations.  But  the 
racial  theory  has  been  ridden  to  death.  After  a  long 
struggle,  it  is  now  being  eventually  abandoned  by  its 
most  fanatical  adherents  in  the  ranks  of  modern  his- 
torians. But  the  average  man  still  pins  his  faith  to  it. 
The  ordinary  Englishman  still  attributes,  and  will 
continue  to  attribute,  the  success  of  his  nation  to 
the  predominance  of  the  Anglo  -  Saxon  stock ;  there  is 
something  extremely  flattering  to  national  pride  in  the 
notion.  It  also  permits  of  a  rapid  and  complete  anni- 
hilation of  the  so-called  Latin  races.  The  Frenchman 
is  also  fired  by  a  kindred  admiration  for  all  that  has 
issued  from  the  Gallo-Roman  blood,  a  theory  which 
also  allows  of  the  equally  rapid  and  complete  disposal 
of  all  that  is  Teutonic  and  Anglo-Saxon.  We  have 
already  shown  how  absolutely  impossible  and  inapplic- 
able such  theories  are  in  the  scientific  study  of  his- 
tory. Bace  is  quite  impossible  of  identification,  and 
where  we  can  to  some  extent  follow  out  the  lines  of 

116 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

ethnographical  demarcation,  it  does  not  in  any  way 
correspond  with  the  national  frontier.  We  must  seek 
for  some  more  substantial  basis  on  which  to  found  our 
theories  of  the  causes  of  intellectual  growth. 

We  must  at  once  insist  upon  the  state  of  intellectual 
stagnation  in  which  the  nations  who  have  been  pre- 
served from  all  contact  with  foreign  neighbors,  who 
have  been  cut  off  from  all  sources  of  foreign  immigra- 
tion, have  remained.  We  have  in  the  earliest  chapters, 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  succeeded  to  some  extent  in  convin- 
cing the  reader  of  the  intellectual  nonentity  of  ancient 
Egypt.  Now  Egypt  is,  above  all,  a  neighborless  land, 
shut  off  by  impenetrable,  natural  boundaries  of  waste 
and  desert  from  uninterrupted  contact  with  the  outside 
world.  Let  this  suffice  as  a  negative  illustration  of 
our  theory.  We  shall  now  proceed  to  prove  that  all 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  as  of  modern  times,  which 
have  the  glory  of  being  initiators  of  great  intellec- 
tual progress,  have  been  border  nations.  Situated 
upon  the  confines  of  some  great  empire,  they  have 
also  been,  on  the  whole,  comparatively  insignificant 
nations  on  the  score  of  numbers.  The  mind  of  man,  it 
must  be  said  with  regret,  is  very  prone  to  sloth.  Un- 
less he  is  to  derive  some  benefit  from  mental  activity, 
he  is  not  likely  to  put  himself  out.  This  applies  to  the 
early  manifestations  of  intellectual  activity;  once  the 
stimulus  is  given,  the  process  is  likely  to  continue  for 
some  time.  But  it  may  be  laid  down  as  a  principle, 
that  progress  of  intellect  has  always  been  manifested 
in  response  to  some  external  stimulus.     Let  us  con- 

116 


INTELLECTUAL  SUCCESS 

sider  for  the  moment  the  conditions  of  existence  of 
border  nations.  Their  numbers  will  not  permit  them 
to  sustain  a  struggle  of  main  force  against  their  more 
powerful  neighbors;  they  must  seek  for  some  efficient 
weapon  with  which  to  ward  off  the  onslaught  of  their 
outnumbering  foes.  The  only  such  weapon  is  to  be 
found  in  a  superior  intelligence;  directly  intelligence 
stands  at  a  premium  it  begins  to  appear.  A  superior 
degree  of  intelligence,  superior  mental  capacity  alone, 
could  save  the  Phoenicians  from  their  Hittite,  As- 
syrian, Persian,  Egyptian,  and  other  neighbors.  The 
great  outburst  of  Greek  genius  takes  place  just  at  the 
moment  when  the  Hellenes  have  succeeded  in  stemming 
first  the  old  Asiatic  empires  (1000  b.c.)  and  then  the 
flood  of  Persian  invasion  (fifth  century  b.c).  The 
cities  of  North  Italy  rise  into  eminence  at  the  very 
moment  they  are  able  to  cast  off  the  yoke  of  sub- 
servience to  the  Holy  Roman  Empire ;  Venice  when 
she  was  free  from  allegiance  to  the  Byzantines.  The 
manifestations  of  Italian  intellect  are  the  echo  of  Leg- 
nano,  where  Emperor  Barbarossa  was  utterly  routed 
by  the  Lombard  city-states. 

We  have  seen  some  of  the  pernicious  results  of  over- 
intellectuality  upon  the  nations  of  modern  Europe. 
Let  us  endeavor  to  show  some  of  the  means  by  which 
they  seek  to  combat  this  over-intellectuality,  or  rather 
to  compensate  for  it  by  a  restoration  of  the  balance  of 
will-power.  The  great  nations  of  Continental  con- 
temporary Europe  have  adopted  an  artificial  means 
of  developing  the  defective  volition  of  their  citizens. 

117 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Up  to  the  time  of  his  majority  the  young  man  of  the 
Continent  has  led  a  very  different  life  to  his  English 
counterpart,  lie  has  heen  subjected  to  a  course  of  in- 
tellectual training,  which  has  been  carried  out  with 
but  little  regard  to  the  development  of  his  will-power. 
Few  people  have  any  idea  of  the  grinding  intellectu- 
al mill  through  which  the  average  Continental  youth 
has  to  pass.  In  Hungary  the  Prussian  system  of  in- 
tellectual gymnastics  is  carried  out  with  unheard-of 
vigor.  For  nine  and  a  half  months  in  every  year  the 
average  Hungarian  boy  is  compelled,  in  accordance 
with  the  Ministerial  curriculum  of  secondary  educa- 
tion, to  toil  every  week  through  twenty-eight  lectures, 
dealing  with  almost  every  branch  of  knowledge.  The 
ordinary  day's  labor,  when  home  work  is  included, 
can  seldom  fall  short  of  eight  hours.  Physical  and 
bodily  exercise  is  only  assigned  two  hours  a  week, 
and  the  games  which  form  so  prominent  a  feature  of 
English  school  life  are  practically  unheard  of.  The 
pity  of  it  all  is  that  this  intellectual  surfeiting  en- 
tirely misses  its  object.  If  this  educational  system 
does  not  prepare  a  man  for  the  actual  difficulties  of 
existence,  we  might  at  least  expect  that  it  would  lead 
to  the  most  remarkable  intellectual  achievements. 
Alas !  nothing  of  the  kind.  Hungary  has  failed  to 
startle  the  world  with  great  philosophies,  great  inven- 
tions, or  great  commercial  enterprises;  she  has  not 
produced,  in  contemporary  days,  even  a  third-rate 
musical  composer !  And  the  reason  is  that  the  state 
has  developed  the   intellectual  faculties   at   the  cost 

118 


INTELLECTUAL   SUCCESS 

of  the  volitional.  The  reaction  from  this  intellectu- 
al grind  is  very  great,  and  there  is  nothing  to  be  sur- 
prised at  when  we  see  the  young  man,  who  has  by 
eighteen  rushed  superficially  half  over  the  sciences, 
disgusted  for  the  rest  of  his  life  with  all  serious  read- 
ing. His  varnish  of  education,  however,  has  given 
him  the  idea  that  he  is  really  instructed ;  it  has,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  only  enabled  him  to  dilute  all  knowl- 
edge with  a  flood  of  rhetoric.  Taine,  in  one  of  his 
best  passages,  has  branded  this  system  of  over-strain- 
ing the  young  mind.  We  quote  him  in  his  own 
words :  "  Lorsque  l'acquisition  des  cadres  generaux  est 
aisee  et  precoce  l'esprit  court  risque  de  devenir  pares- 
seux.  .  .  .  Souvent,  au  sortir  du  college,  presque  tou- 
jours  avant  vingt-cinq  ans,  il  possede  ces  cadres,  et 
comme  ils  sont  commodes,  il  les  applique  a  tout  sujet; 
desormais  il  napprend  plus,  il  se  croit  suffisammcnt 
muni.  II  se  contente  de  raisonner  et  souvent  il  raison- 
ne  a  vide.  II  n'est  pas  au  fait ;  il  n'a  pas  le  renseigne- 
ment  special  et  concluant;  il  ne  sent  pas  qui!  lui 
manque,  il  ne  va  pas  le  chercher,  il  repete  des  idees  de 
vieux  journal." 

In  the  over-intellectualized  countries  the  system  of 
education  is  almost  invariably  reflected  in  a  highly 
bureaucratic  government,  which  is,  after  all,  the  nat- 
ural outcome  of  a  mind  which  has  always  been  trained 
in  the  formal  systematization  of  things.  But  nothing 
can  be  more  paralyzing  to  national  energies  than  a 
bureaucrat  government,  which,  by  its  red-tape  routine, 
very  soon  reduces  all  its  members,  through  all  the 

119 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

stages  of  mental  atrophy,  to  the  condition  of  mechani- 
cal automata.  It  has  been  shown  time  after  time  that 
energy  can  only  be  maintained  by  constant  struggle. 
The  leisured  ease,  which  is  the  fond  dream  of  men 
of  science  and  letters,  rarely  leads  to  anything  great. 
Otherwise  we  should  look  for  the  greatest  works  of 
genius  among  the  members  of  the  monastic  orders  or 
among  the  class  of  well-paid  and  leisured  civil-ser- 
vants; but  this  artificial  freedom  from  the  cares  and 
anxieties  of  existence  is  destructive  of  all  individual 
initiative. 

The  Continental  Powers  have,  from  political  mo- 
tives, adopted  the  system  of  conscription,  which  goes 
far  to  remedy  the  effects  of  a  faulty  education  of  the 
will-power ;  the  result  has,  no  doubt,  been  attained  un- 
consciously, but  should  the  agitators  for  international 
disarmament  and  the  abolition  of  compulsory  mili- 
tary service  meet  with  success,  it  will  be  an  evil  day 
for  the  Continental  countries. 


VII 

RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS.— I 

A  few  nations  succeeded  in  founding  systems  of  religion  that 
spread  over  vast  areas  and  converted  millions  of  people. 
Buddhism.  Hebrew  Monotheism.  Christianity.  Moham- 
medanism. Calvinism.  The  origins  of  the  latter  four  re- 
ligions are  all  from  amazingly  small  and  apparently  in- 
significant beginnings.  Where  they  do  not  lead  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  an  ecclesiastical  polity  or  Church  proper, 
there  they  absorb  man's  best  powers  to  an  extent  injuri- 
ous to  his  other  interests.     The  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

In  English-speaking  countries  the  majority  of  per- 
sons who  have  pursued  their  studies  after  they  have 
been  released  from  the  compulsory  acquisition  of  a 
certain  quota  of  knowledge  during  their  period  of 
school  life  have  been  drawn  to  the  almost  exclusive 
pursuit  of  the  physical  sciences.  The  very  English 
language  is  an  imposing  witness  to  this  fact.  German 
has  the  word  Wissenschaft  and  English  has  the  word 
"  science,"  but  although  the  German  word  contains 
all  that  is  implied  by  the  English  term,  it  cannot  fitly 
be  translated  by  the  word  "  science  " ;  it  contains  a 
great  deal  more,  and  may  include  literature,  history, 
and  art,  all  of  which,  to  the  English  mind,  appear 
eminently  unscientific.  Science  means  practically  the 
physical  sciences,  and  the  physical  sciences  alone.     It 

121 


SUCCESS    AMONG    NATIONS 

is,  then,  not  unnatural  that  the  English  mind,  when 
it  is  brought  to  bear  on  historical  and  social  questions, 
should  seek  to  apply  to  them  the  same  processes  of 
reasoning  which  it  has  found  so  successful  in  physics. 
It  is  not  unnatural  that  the  Englishman  should  im- 
agine that  the  same  laws  of  mass  and  number  which 
hold  good  in  mechanics  should  find  also  appropriate 
application  in  history  and  sociology.  It  has  been  our 
constant  endeavor  to  point  out  throughout  this  volume 
the  absolute  error  of  all  considerations  of  mass  in  his- 
tory. But  it  is  out  of  this  fundamental  error  that 
have  grown  the  exaggerated  ideas  generally  prevalent 
as  to  the  immense  part  to  be  played  by  America  and 
Eussia  in  the  future;  out  of  this  error  likewise  has 
grown  that  Chinese  phantom  which  has  for  years 
haunted  the  minds  of  European  politicians,  the  Yel- 
low Terror.  Equally  empty  is  the  bugbear  of  Pan- 
slavism  which  has  long  hung  as  an  imaginary  menace 
over  Europe.  Although  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
enter  into  American  politics  in  greater  detail,  we  may 
state  now  that  whatever  influence  America  may  be 
destined  to  exercise  upon  the  central  and  southern 
parts  of  the  great  Western  continent,  she  will  never 
become  a  decisive  factor  in  European  history.  If 
there  is  any  teaching  clearly  derivable  from  European 
history,  it  is  that  it  has  always  been  decided  by  qual- 
ity and  not  by  quantity.  And  since  high-strung  and 
intense  quality  exists  only  in  a  few  people,  we  may 
well  say  that  the  history  of  Europe  has  gone  by  mi- 
norities.    The  wealth  of  highly  differentiated  types, 

122 


EELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

individualities,  and  national  personalities  in  Europe 
is  an  insurmountable  bulwark  against  which  the  uni- 
form undifferentiated  masses,  emerging  possibly  from 
the  far  East  or  from  the  far  West,  may  expend  their 
efforts  in  vain. 

This  great  and  indisputable  fact,  this  basal  and 
fundamental  experience  of  all  European  history, 
shows  nowhere  more  clearly  than  in  the  history  of 
religious  success  secured  by  a  few  nations  who  suc- 
ceeded in  founding  religious  systems  and  churches  em- 
bracing millions  and  even  hundreds  of  millions  of 
people. 

All  the  great  religious  institutions,  ideals,  and  dog- 
mas came  not  only  from  a  very  few  people,  from 
peoples  whose  numbers  were  insignificant,  but  from 
the  most  remote  of  peoples,  from  the  most  obscure  and 
unexpected  corners,  The  Roman  Empire,  the  vastest 
fabric  of  human  ingenuity  and  force  that  has  ever 
been  raised,  was  sapped,  undermined,  and  dissolved 
by  a  mere  handful  of  Jews,  issuing  from  the  least 
important  of  the  then  Roman  provinces.  Again  the 
constant  and  startling  correlation  between  the  im- 
mense success  of  a  certain  religion  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  exiguity  of  its  origin  on  the  other,  is  strik- 
ingly illustrated  by  the  spread  of  Mohammedanism, 
now  covering  broad  tracts  in  Africa,  Asia,  and  eastern 
Europe.  Of  these  religions,  as  is  generally  known, 
some  are  universal  in  extent,  others  are  not  so.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  for  instance,  may  be  fairly 
called  universal,  comprising  as  it  does  hundreds  of 

123 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

millions  of  adherents  distributed  over  all  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  Mohammedanism  and  Buddhism  have 
extended  their  influence  over  such  immense  expanses 
of  territory  that  they,  too,  may  be  fittingly  ranked 
among  the  universal  religions. 

In  studying  the  sects  of  these  various  creeds,  the 
religions  within  religions,  we  observe  the  same  con- 
stant relation  between  ultimate  immense  success  and 
poor  and  petty  beginnings.  (Let  us  take  as  an  example 
Calvinism.  It  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  that, 
with  the  exception  of  Christopher  Columbus,  no  man 
of  the  Renaissance,  and  for  centuries  after,  has  influ- 
enced the  fate  of  European  politics  more  profoundly 
than  has  Calvin.  <  He  really  introduced  the  principle 
of  democracy,  under  the  guise  of  theocracy,  and  this 
principle,  as  it  spread  in  ever-widening  circles,  be- 
came everywhere  the  seed  of  political  revolution.  On 
reaching  Holland,  it  kindled  into  flame  that  titanic 
rebellion  and  struggle  for  liberty  which,  after  lasting 
fourscore  years,  ended  in  the  triumph  of  the  Dutch.  } 
f  As  Calvinism  spread  over  the  British  Islands,  it 
stirred  into  being,  first  in  Scotland,  and  subsequently 
in  England,  the  greatest  civil  wars  which  these  islands 
have  ever  witnessed,  and  by  means  of  which  the  whole 
constitution  of  England  was  altered  in  all  its  vital 
elements.  When  Calvinism  burst  upon  France  it  led 
to  four-and-thirty  years  of  civil  strife  from  1559  to 
1593,  and  was  thus  the  indirect  means  of  unification 
in  France,  and  hence  of  the  pre-eminence  of  that  coun- 
try in  Europe.     On  reaching  America,  it  inspired  the 

124 


KELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

early  settlers  in  New  England  with  that  steadfast- 
ness, that  tenacity  of  purpose,  which  was  destined  to 
make  the  colonies  the  haven  of  refuge  for  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  the  oppressed  and  downtrodden  of  Eu- 
rope.] We  omit  a  multitude  of  examples  which  we 
might  adduce  of  the  influence  of  Calvinism  upon  Hun- 
garian, Polish,  and  Swedish  history.  There,  too,  it 
was  the  all-pervading  leaven  which  induced  political 
fermentation  and  progress.  Calvinism  is  not  yet  dead, 
and  the  latest  mark  of  its  power  is  the  three  years  of 
heroic  struggle  of  the  South-African  Boers,  devoted 
adherents  of  Calvinism.  Its  latest  apostles  are  named 
Botha,  De  la  Key,  De  Wet. 

And  all  this  mighty  influence  came  from  the  ob- 
scure citizen  of  a  yet  obscurer  township  of  Picardy. 
On  considering  the  immense  effect  upon  religious,  or 
rather  upon  politico-religious,  ideas  of  this  insignifi- 
cant Picard;  when,  moreover,  we  remember  that  his 
famous  headquarters  in  Geneva  were  laid  in  a  town 
of  then  not  more  than  twelve  thousand  inhabitants — 
we  cannot  but  stand  amazed  at  the  apparent  dispro- 
portion between  the  cause  and  the  effect.  Religious 
success,  indeed,  has  as  its  chief  and  essential  condi- 
tions small  numbers  gravitating  about  a  central  force 
of  intense  quality — a  personality.  Of  personality  we 
shall  speak  at  length  in  the  succeeding  chapter.  Let 
us  now  take  a  typical  example  of  the  rise  of  a  great 
religious  power.  Let  us  briefly  trace  the  conditions 
which  have  contributed  to  the  vast  influence  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  the  Order  of  Jesuits. 

L25 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

We  may  well  regard  this  order  as  a  political  unity. 
In  our  preceding  chapters  we  have  pointed  out  that  an 
ideal  balance  between  the  volitional  and  intellectual 
powers  would  be  likely  to  procure  the  supreme  de- 
gree of  success  in  a  nation.  We  have  also  intimated 
that  this  balance  has  been  rarely  even  partially  at- 
tained; that  the  development  of  an  excess  of  will- 
power entails,  as  a  rule,  a  serious  diminution  of  the 
elasticity  of  the  intellectual  power;  the  converse  we 
have  likewise  proved  to  hold  true. 

If  we  read  the  rule  for  the  government  of  the  Soci- 
ety of  Jesus  we  are  struck  by  little  that  is  novel.  He 
that  joins  the  order  must  take  the  same  solemn  triple 
oath,  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience,  which  is  the 
base  upon  which  all  other  great  monastic  institutions 
have  been  built.  The  rule  of  the  Jesuits  has  nothing 
that  is  characteristically  distinct  from  the  regulce  of 
the  Benedictines,  the  Franciscans,  or  from  those  of  a 
score  of  other  orders.  There  are  the  same  minute  di- 
rections for  the  observation  of  a  spiritual  life,  but 
they  are  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  rapid  spread 
of  the  society,  which  in  a  few  years  swept  like  a 
prairie  fire  over  Europe  from  end  to  end,  gathering 
multitudes  of  fresh  adherents  in  every  country.  In 
1759,  fourteen  years  before  its  abolition  by  Clement 
XIV.,  the  order  numbered  22,589  members.  These 
figures  alone  will  serve  to  give  some  idea  of  the  wide- 
spread power  of  the  society,  which  will  only  be  height- 
ened when  we  come  to  see  what  every  unit  of  this  im- 
mense total  represented  in  energy  and  intelligence. 

126 


RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

To-day  they  are  still  the  most  powerful  order  exist- 
ing, numbering  probably  over  eleven  thousand  mem- 
bers, and  extending  their  influence  by  a  vast  mission- 
ary system  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe. 

It  is  clear  that  the  seeds  of  Jesuit  success  are  not 
to  be  found  in  its  regula;  they  must  be  sought  for  in 
the  personality  of  Loyola  himself.  To  feel  the  full 
force  of  this,  we  should  have  lived  with  him  on  the 
Montmartre  at  Paris  during  those  seven  years  of  toil 
(1528-1535)  during  which  he  was  making  himself 
ready  for  his  great  mission;  we  should  have  had  a 
life  in  common  with  Peter  Faber,  Francis  Xavier, 
Laynez,  Salmeron,  Bobadilla,  and  Rodriguez  de  Aze- 
vedo,  who  were  to  become  the  first  members  of  the 
great  society;  we  should  have  felt  what  they  felt  in 
the  presence  of  Loyola. 

The  idea  which  Loyola  had  succeeded  in  grasping 
was,  after  all,  simple.  He  may  not  have  framed  it  in 
the  same  words  as  we  should  put  it  nowadays,  but  he 
had,  at  any  rate,  realized  the  fact  that  great  intellect, 
impelled  by  unflinching,  indefatigable  will-power,  con- 
stitutes the  greatest  possible  human  force.  He  knew 
that  in  nature  such  a  combination  rarely  exists,  even 
in  the  case  of  single  persons,  and  never  in  the  case  of 
communities.  If,  then,  by  artificial  means  he  were 
able  to  make  members  of  an  association  combining 
both  these  qualities  to  an  eminent  degree,  there  would 
be  no  political,  no  religious  institution  which  would 
not  be  compelled  to  bow  before  it.  It  was  Loyola's 
own  personality  alone  which  enabled  him  to  carry 

127 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

this  ideal  into  execution.  Of  its  details  we  know 
enough,  but  we  know,  nevertheless,  but  a  fraction  of 
what  is  to  be  known.  The  Jesuits  have  been  careful 
to  cover  up  their  traces,  and  all  the  archives  in  Eu- 
rope are  incapable  of  showing  the  important  part  they 
have  played  in  nine-tenths  of  the  otherwise  incompre- 
hensible events  of  European  history. 

We  have  seen  that  this  combination  of  intellect  and 
will-power  can  only  be  obtained  by  artificial  means. 
Let  us  cast  a  rapid  glance  at  the  mechanism  which 
turns  out  a  Jesuit,  and  what  is  the  cost  at  which  it  is 
kept  active.  Assuredly  if  any  proof  were  needed  of 
the  price  at  which  ideals  are  purchased,  the  Society 
of  Jesus  would  furnish  the  most  striking  of  examples. 
The  method  of  Jesuit-making  is  the  conception  of 
Ignatius  Loyola. 

The  training  of  the  will-power  probably  offered  the 
greatest  difficulties,  for  the  will-power  was  to  be  de- 
veloped, not  for  the  benefit  of  him  that  exercised  it, 
but  for  the  service  of  the  order.  It  was  to  be  a  living 
instrument  which  the  society  might  always  expect 
to  act  with  mathematical  precision.  To  obtain  this 
perfect  instrument,  it  was  expedient  to  get  rid  of  all 
human  passions  and  emotions  which  might  possibly 
cause  it  to  waver.  This  was  the  object  of  the  moral 
education  of  the  Jesuit.  All  the  sources  of  emo- 
tion must  be  choked.  Love  of  parents,  love  of  rela- 
tions, love  of  country  must  be  annihilated  in  order 
that  nothing  shall  interfere  with  the  divine  mission. 
"  They  must  free  themselves  of  all  love  for  the  created, 

128 


EELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

in  order  to  bestow  their  whole  love  upon  the  Creator." 
Even  friendship  was  crushed  out,  for  although  a  sem- 
blance of  friendship  was  maintained  between  novices, 
we  may  imagine  the  utter  isolation  which  really  ex- 
isted when  we  learn  that  every  novice  was  compelled  to 
send  in  a  regular  report  to  his  superior  of  the  conduct 
and  feelings  of  his  companion  in  the  recreation  hours. 
All  passion  and  sentiment  were  crushed  out  by  the 
most  humiliating  religious  exercises,  until  the  Jesuit 
was  finally  reduced  to  the  level  of  a  foreigner  even  in 
his  own  country.  He  was  freed  of  all  scruples  save 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  his  superior,  the  re- 
sponsibility for  all  other  actions  he  might  scruple  to 
perform  being  assumed  by  the  order.  He  was  an 
unemotional  automaton,  with  an  abnormal  will-power 
on  which  the  order  might  implicitly  depend  to  carry 
him  through  any  degree  of  self-abnegation  and  self- 
sacrifice.  To  make  man  the  willing  slave  of  this 
crushing  psychological  ideal  required  the  personality 
of  a  Loyola. 

The  intellectual  training  was  equally  severe.  If  the 
instrument  was  steeled  in  temper,  it  must  also  be  of 
the  proper  and  most  useful  design.  Any  original 
stock  of  talent  that  the  novice  might  possess  the  order 
proceeded  to  develop  to  its  own  advantage.  No  ex- 
pense or  care  was  spared  in  giving  the  novice  the  most 
perfect  education;  that  is  to  say,  the  real  education 
does  not  begin  until  the  two  years  of  noviciate  proper, 
during  which  the  novice  may  return  to  the  world  or 
the  order  may  refuse  to  keep  him,  are  ended.  In  the 
9  129 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

class  of  scliolaslici  approbali  the  Jesuit  passes  from 
eight  to  fifteen  years,  during  which  he  undergoes  a 
most  searching  educational  curriculum. 

Much  has  been  said,  and  justly  been  said,  of  the 
evil  done  by  the  Order  of  Jesus,  but  the  general  tone 
of  reviling  is  to  the  real  student  of  history  revoltingly 
unjust. 

The  Jesuits  are,  as  we  have  already  said,  not  an 
order,  but  a  state.  As  is  the  case  with  all  states,  their 
history  abounds  in  things  great  and  small,  sublime  and 
vile.  We  should  like  to  remind  the  reader  of  a  few 
only  of  their  immortal  merits.  During  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  when  the  most  abomina- 
ble of  all  prejudices  and  superstitions,  the  belief  in 
witchcraft,  was  rampant,  there  was,  save  among  the 
Jesuits,  the  most  pitiable  lack  of  moral  courage.  Nei- 
ther Bacon  nor  Leibniz,  neither  Descartes  nor  Spinoza, 
had  the  moral  courage  to  combat  publicly  the  terri- 
ble superstition  that  claimed  thousands  of  innocent 
victims,  clown  to  children  of  six  years,  who  were  burnt, 
for  instance,  as  witches  at  Wiirzburg.  Among  the  first 
men  who  had  that  rare  courage  were  Jesuits,  the  Pa- 
ters Adam  Tanner,  Paul  Layman,  and  more  par- 
ticularly the  noble  Frederick  Spee.  The  last  named's 
Cautio  Criminalis  was  so  powerful  an  argument 
against  witch  trials  that  it  actually  brought  about 
a  change  in  the  horrible  practice.  It  was,  therefore, 
very  much  more  effective  than  the  works  of  Weir  and 
Reginald  Scot. 

As  to  the  merits  of  the  Jesuits  in  regard  to  science, 
130 


KELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

they  are  exceedingly  great.  They  produced  sever- 
al first-class  mathematicians  and  physicists  (Guldin, 
Christ,  Schemer,  Grimaldi,  etc.),  and  at  present  one 
of  the  most  comprehensive  conspectuses  of  higher 
mathematics  is  published  by  Pater  Hagen  in  Amer- 
ica. Another  Pater,  E.  Wasmann,  has  quite  recently 
been  publishing  very  important  monographs,  adding 
new  evidence  for  the  theory  of  evolution.  To  the  his- 
torian proper  many  of  the  works  of  the  Jesuits  are 
absolutely  indispensable.  Quinine  was  brought  over 
by  the  Jesuits,  and  the  camelia  is  named  after  Pater 
C.J.  Camel. 

But  when  we  again  return  to  the  consideration  of 
origins  we  are  startled.  The  Spanish,  as  we  shall  show, 
and  as  is,  moreover,  very  well  known  to  every  one  from 
their  history,  have  never  been  able  to  establish  and 
build  up  permanently  powerful  politics.  Their  empire 
was  always  loosely  knit  together,  and  ready  to  col- 
lapse at  the  earliest  shock.  A  hundred  years  after  the 
discovery  of  America  it  was  already  on  the  high-road 
to  dissolution.  Of  the  greatest  imperial  opportunities 
ever  vouchsafed  to  any  nation,  the  Spanish  only  suc- 
ceeded in  making  political  bankruptcy.  Is  it  not, 
then,  highly  remarkable  that  a  man  should  arise  out 
of  this,  of  all  nations,  to  found  the  greatest  body 
politic  ever  established?  So  true  is  it  that  religious 
success,  the  most  powerful  influence  upon  mankind, 
and  upon  which  depends  the  whole  material,  intel- 
lectual, and  moral  life  of  nations,  is  originated  by 
one  commanding  personality,  emerging  from  the  most 

131 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

insignificant  beginnings  and  the  most  unexpected 
quarters. 

It  has  long  been  remarked,  and  often  repeated,  that 
it  was  a  providential  fact  that  the  Christian  religion 
came  from  remote  Bethlehem,  a  village  whose  name 
was  unknown  to  the  Romans.  Had  it  pleased  Provi- 
dence to  kindle  Christianity  in  Rome  by  fixing  there 
the  birthplace  of  the  Saviour,  struggles  infinitely  more 
intense  might  have  crippled  and  retarded  the  spread 
of  Christianity.  Rome  had  succeeded  in  subjugating 
other  nations  politically;  in  intellect  and  religion, 
however,  she  remained  in  many  instances  their  de- 
cided inferior.  These  nations,  conscious  of  their 
intellectual  and  religious  superiority,  were  perhaps 
readier  to  acquiesce  in  the  otherwise  beneficial  politi- 
cal supremacy  of  Rome.  Had,  however,  Rome  ac- 
quired also  the  immense  leverage  of  religious  pre- 
eminence by  becoming  the  birthplace  of  a  Messiah, 
it  is  impossible  to  predict  what  fearful  religious  wars 
and  convulsions  might  not  have  arisen  whereby  the 
progress  of  religion  would  have  been  indefinitely  im- 
peded. 

The  Jew  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  quantity  to 
analyze.  It  is  certainly  most  expedient  to  regard  him 
under  the  head  of  religious  success,  for  although  we 
shall  see  that  there  have  been  many  other  agencies 
at  work  contributing  to  his  success,  it  is,  after  all, 
the  bond  of  religion  which  most  closelv  unites  Jew  to 
Jew.  We  shall  devote  a  few  words  to  showing  that  the 
Jews  are  certainly  not  a  distinctive  unmixed  race,  in 

132 


EELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

spite  of  the  strong  ethnical  characteristics  which  have 
set  their  mark  upon  the  majority  of  them.  The  Jew 
in  historical  times  has  not  lived  in  that  absolutely 
strict  racial  isolation  in  which  he  is  popularly  sup- 
posed to  have  lived.  We  have  the  most  conclusive  ev- 
idence, documentary  evidence,  showing  that  among 
the  Jews  of  central,  southern,  and  eastern  Europe 
there  was  during  the  Middle  Ages  a  very  considerable 
infusion  of  non-Hebrew  blood.  Moreover,  albeit  the 
Jews  have  maintained  a  distinct  type  such  as  few  oth- 
er tribes  have  preserved,  there  is,  nevertheless,  be- 
tween the  Jew  of  Poland  and  the  Jew  of  Spain,  be- 
tween the  Jew  of  Austro-Hungary  and  the  Jew  of 
Germany,  the  most  decided  physical  dissimilarity. 
But  whatever  bodily  variety  there  may  exist  among 
the  Jews,  the  moral  and  social,  the  psychological  type 
is  remarkably  uniform.  The  Jew  is  the  Jew  all  the 
world  over,  be  he  fair  or  be  he  swarthy,  and  the  the- 
ory of  race  breaks  down  utterly  when  it  endeavors 
to  reconcile  this  psychological  uniformity  with  this 
physical  variety.  Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at 
another  nationality  of  exceedingly  mixed  blood,  the 
South-African  Boers.  Xo  one  could  deny  that  there 
is  one  prevalent  Boer  character;  but  in  order  to  ex- 
plain it  we  must  seek  for  some  more  workable  theory 
than  the  theory  of  race,  for  among  the  Boers  the  ra- 
cial confusion  is  quite  inextricable.  The  very  names 
point  to  the  frequent  influx  of  foreign  elements, 
French,  English,  German,  Portuguese,  or  any  other 
nationality.      But   all    these   discordant   factors   have 

133 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

been  reduced  to  one  homogeneous  whole.  A  De  la 
Rey,  despite  his  name,  is  Boer  to  the  backbone,  and 
nothing  but  Boer ;  the  same  may  be  said  of  a  Joubert 
or  a  Villiers. 

One  of  the  greatest  men  that  have  ever  arisen  among 
the  Jews,  Spinoza,  has  accounted  for  the  remarkable 
persistence  of  type  among  his  co-religionists,  and  for 
the  unflinching,  uncompromising  attitude  which  they 
maintain  towards  modern  civilization,  by  referring  to 
the  very  hatred  which  other  nations  have  preserved 
towards  that  type.  Spinoza  has  certainly  made  the 
first  step  towards  solving  the  problem,  but  it  would  be 
very  much  more  satisfactory  to  say  that  the  Jew  is  the 
foreigner  par  excellence.  He  has  at  all  times  reaped 
the  benefits  of  his  foreign  status. 

We  will  here  digress  for  a  moment  in  order  to  give 
in  some  detail  the  general  theory  of  the  foreigner  at 
which  we  have  from  time  to  time  referred  in  other 
chapters.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that  the  stranger 
in  a  country  is  at  a  decided  disadvantage.  The  teach- 
ings of  history  point  very  much  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection. Is  it,  after  all,  so  very  surprising  that  the 
foreigner  in  a  strange  land  should,  as  a  general  rule, 
succeed  ?  He  is,  to  begin  with,  in  circumstances  which 
are  likely  to  fill  him  with  energy,  and  in  order  to 
expatriate  himself  he  must  already  have  required  no 
inconsiderable  amount  of  energy  and  determination. 
His  stock  of  knowledge,  being  that  of  a  foreigner,  will 
probably  be  novel,  and  be  able  to  realize  a  good  price 
in  a  new  country.     He  is  determined  at  all  costs  to 

134 


KELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

succeed,  and,  indeed,  if  he  does  not,  he  must  regard 
himself  as  irrevocably  lost.  He  has  set  all  upon  his 
last  venture.  It  is  only  necessary  to  glance  rapidly  at 
some  of  the  greatest  personalities  that  have  illustrated 
history  to  convince  ourselves  of  the  all-important  part 
which  has  been  played  by  foreigners  in  the  building  up 
of  countries.  At  Athens,  Themistocles,  the  saviour  of 
Hellas,  was  not  a  pure  Athenian  born,  but  the  son  of 
an  alien  mother.  Lysander,  Sparta's  greatest  man, 
was  not  a  Spartan  at  all,  but  the  child  of  perioeci,  or 
resident  aliens.  But  to  come  to  modern  days,  where 
the  names  occur  in  abundance,  so  that  we  can  only 
choose  one  or  two  out  of  the  profusion.  There  is  Ma- 
zarin  in  France,  perhaps  her  greatest  statesman,  but 
of  Italian  birth.  In  England  we  need  only  mention 
such  famous  names  as  Simon  de  Montfort,  King 
William  III.,  Disraeli.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  though 
perhaps  not  so  astonishing  when  we  come  to  look 
deeper  into  the  matter,  that  the  Christianizing  of 
Europe  has  been  almost  exclusively  the  outcome  of 
foreign  missionary  zeal.  Verily,  a  man  is  not  a 
prophet  in  his  own  country,  and,  as  if  in  confirma- 
tion of  the  words  of  Scripture,  almost  every  land  of  Eu- 
rope has  sent  preachers  to  its  neighbors,  and  received 
from  them  preachers  in  return.  Three  of  the  great- 
est monastic  orders  have  been  founded  in  France  by 
foreigners:  the  Carthusians  by  St.  Bruno  of  Cologne; 
the  Cistercians  by  St.  Stephen  Harding,  an  English- 
man;  and  the  Order  of  Premontre  (Pra?monstraten- 
sians)  by  St.  Norbert,  from  Xanten,  in  Westphalia. 

135 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

We  might  adduce  an  infinity  of  other  striking  ex- 
amples, but  the  brief  space  which  we  can  allow  to  this 
digression  forbids  it.  We  should  like,  however,  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  the  debt  of  England  to  foreign 
importations  is  immense,  especially  in  the  industrial 
and  commercial  world.  How  many  trades  and  indus- 
tries in  England  have  been  based  upon  foreign  ener- 
gies !  We  need  only  think  of  weaving,  introduced  and 
developed  by  Flemings;  of  the  great  drainage-works 
of  the  Eastern  Counties,  carried  out  almost  entirely 
by  Dutch  labor,  many  traces  of  which  remain  in  the 
local  geography,  in  such  names  as  Little  Holland  and 
in  the  title  Dutch  River  applied  to  the  Goole  Canal. 
In  South  Wales,  again,  the  mining  and  smelting  works 
are  in  no  small  part  due  to  Flemish  initiative  and 
enterprise.  Two  of  the  most  thriving  towns,  Swan- 
sea and  Milford,  were  founded  by  refugees  driven  in 
the  twelfth  century  from  their  homes  in  the  Nether- 
lands by  the  terrible  floods.  Again,  there  is  the  Lon- 
don watch  industry,  originated  by  French  settlers  in 
Clerkenwell.  The  expulsion  of  the  Huguenots  from 
France,  which  followed  upon  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  scattered  a  multitude  of  the  most 
intelligent  inhabitants  of  France  over  the  rest  of 
Europe,  and  Louis  XIV.,  by  this  act  of  religious 
intolerance,  conferred  unwittingly  enough  an  inesti- 
mable boon  upon  his  neighboring  enemies.  We  have 
already  pointed  out  that  Egypt,  fenced  off  among  its 
desert  barriers,  and  almost  completely  insulated  from 
foreign  contact,  was  inevitably  predestined  to  lapse 

136 


EELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

into  a  condition  of  stagnant  conservatism ;  in  our  lat- 
er pages  we  shall  show  that  the  same  conditions  are 
now  having  a  practically  identical  result  in  the  case 
of  Spain.  It  is  needless  to  insist  that  the  immense 
energy  of  the  Americans  is  owing  chiefly  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  all  foreigners. 

"With  these  few  observations  to  guide  us,  we  may 
come  back  to  the  consideration  of  the  Jew.  As  we 
have  said,  he  is  the  classical  stranger,  the  foreigner 
par  excellence.  In  his  case  the  conditions  of  the  alien 
are  doubly  accentuated.  The  hatred  with  which,  from 
religious  motives,  he  was  visited  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  is  even  now  visited,  has  completed  his  almost 
utter  loneliness,  and  prevented  him  from  absorption 
into  the  environing  nationality.  His  foreign  status 
has  been  indefinitely  prolonged,  and  he  has  thus  con- 
tinued to  reap  the  benefit  accruing  from  this  state;. 
Moreover,  in  the  early  Middle  Ages,  when  the  bour- 
geoisie was  hardly  even  yet.  nascent,  he  was  almost 
the  only  man  ready  to  undertake  commerce,  or  who 
had  any  business  faculties.  He  made  use  of  all  the 
splendid  opportunities  offered  to  him,  greatly  to  his 
financial  betterment.  His  success  certainly  did  not 
add  to  the  love  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  and 
so  his  foreign  position,  as  time  went  on,  was  more  and 
more  keenly  impressed  on  him,  until  in  some  cases  he 
was  expelled,  as  he  was  from  England  in  1290. 

The  prevailing  notion  of  universal  Jewish  success 
is,  however,  highly  exaggerated.  The  vast  majority 
of  the  Jews  are  paupers.     It  hardly  needs  a  journey 

137 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

in  eastern  Europe  to  bring  home  this  fact,  when  there 
are  such  numbers  of  poverty-ridden  Israelites  in  the 
Western  capitals.  Their  misery  is,  no  doubt,  to  some 
extent  hidden,  in  that  the  rich  Jew,  animated  by  that 
spirit  of  solidarity  which  marks  all  Jewish  communi- 
ties, comes  to  the  succor  of  his  poorer  brethren,  who 
would  otherwise  become  a  burthen  on  the  public  relief 
funds.  The  number  of  Jews  who  have  attained  ex- 
alted positions  in  wealth  and  politics  (we  need  only 
cite  the  Kothschilds  for  riches;  and  Cremieux  in 
France,  Lassalle  in  Germany,  Disraeli  in  England 
for  political  distinction)  has,  no  doubt,  tended  to  give 
this  overdone  idea  of  Israelite  prosperity.  The  ex- 
ample of  his  more  fortunate  brethren  who  have  suc- 
ceeded cannot  but  give  an  immense  stimulus  and  high 
hopes  to  the  still  struggling  Jew.  If  his  ambitions  are 
less  confined  to  money,  and  soar  into  the  ideal,  he  need 
only  remind  himself  of  such  names  as  Heine  and 
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.  The  isolation  in  which  the 
Jew  is  held  by  his  inimical  environments  is  yet  further 
heightened  by  his  religion  and  by  his  religious  ob- 
servances. His  God  is,  after  all,  chiefly  his  own 
God,  the  God  of  the  elect,  who  is  mostly  indifferent 
or  hostile  to  Gentiles. 

We  have  seen,  then,  that  the  Jew  derives  his 
strength  from  his  almost  pariah-like  exclusion  from 
his  surroundings,  which,  while  it  increases  his  ener- 
gy and  fighting  instincts,  must  also  free  him,  to  some 
extent,  from  his  scruples  in  dealing  with  Gentiles. 
Against  such  a  position  the  storm  of  anti-Semitism 

138 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

must  expend  its  fury  in  vain,  as  it  only  serves  to 
strengthen  its  foe.  It  can  only  help  to  make  them 
more  aggressive,  and,  consequently,  more  successful. 
Is  it  not,  perhaps,  for  this  very  reason  that  the  Jews 
have  never  sought  to  offer  a  corporate  resistance  to 
their  modern  aggressors? 

Should  the  present  Zionist  propaganda,  which  is 
being  pursued  with  such  enthusiasm  by  its  promoters, 
really  lead  to  something  practical  being  done  in  the 
way  of  repatriating  the  Jews  in  the  land  of  their 
origin,  the  friends  of  the  racial  theory  will  be  aston- 
ished at  the  results.  All  the  distinguishing  traits 
which  at  present  stamp  the  Jews  as  something  quite 
apart  would  rapidly  fade  away;  and  though  it  is  im- 
possible to  forecast  what  their  future  might  be,  it  is 
certain  that  it  would  proceed  along  lines  quite  differ- 
ent from  those  of  their  present  activity. 

f  A  word  or  two  remains  to  be  said  about  the  very 
important  reform  movements  which  have,  during  the 
last  thirty  years,  been  going  forward  in  America,  and 
as  to  what  may  be  expected  from  them.  Jewry  there 
has  been  undergoing  a  process  of  modernization.  The 
strict  rules  of  ritual  with  which  the  Jew,  if  an  ob- 
servant Jew,  was  expected  to  comply  are  being  re- 
laxed— the  Sabbatli  need  not  be  observed  so  severely, 
and  restrictions  in  dress  and  diet  and  in  intercourse 
with  Gentiles  have  been  allowed  in  great  part  to  lapse 
into  abeyance.  In  spite  of  all  these  modifications  in 
his  mode  of  life,  the  Jew  is  not  likely  to  merge  into 
his  non-Jewish  surroundings;  he  will  neither  allow 

139 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

himself  to  be  absorbed  nor  will  he  be  allowed  to  do 
so.  Antipathy  against  him  is  still  unabated,  and  as 
long  as  this  antipathy  persists  he  will  remain  a  for- 
eigner, and  not  infrequently  a  successful  foreigner.~\* 

Of  all  examples  of  religious  success,  that  offered 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  certainly  the  most 
magnificent,  although  that  success  is  obscured  in 
Protestant  countries  by  the  strong  tide  of  misunder- 
standings and  misconceptions.  On  closer  examina- 
tion, we  shall  see  that  most  of  these  misunderstand- 
ings rest  their  foundation  upon  a  substratum  of  igno- 
rance, for  in  these  same  Protestant  countries  the  past 
history  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  well  as  its  present 
organization,  is  almost  utterly  unknown.  While  the 
Protestant  countries  are  willing  to  admit  any  degree 
of  cunning  and  subtle  diplomacy  in  the  dealings  of 
the  popes  and  of  their  dependent  bishops,  they  affect 
to  despise  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Roman  Church  as  a 
gigantic  imposture  now  tottering  to  its  fall.  Their 
disdain,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  proving,  is  en- 
tirely unjustifiable,  while  their  auguries  have  no  pros- 
pect, within  all  human  perspective,  of  being  fulfilled. 

Of  all  organized  polities,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has,  by  its  organization,  realized  the  deepest 
political  psychology.  It  has  inherited,  in  all  their 
vigorous  vitality,  the  ground  principles  which  led  to 
the  building  up  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  which 
gave  that  Empire  its  strength ;  those  principles  it  has, 
however,  utilized  with  such  wisdom  and  developed  to 
such  good  effect  that  it  is  to-day,  though  shorn  of  much 

140 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

of  its  influence,  still  the  mightiest  body  politic  ever 
reared  in  history,  and  the  most  enduring.  It  is  un- 
wise to  rate  the  present  political  power  of  the  Papacy 
too  low,  and  those  who  are  inclined  to  do  so  should  re- 
member that  one  of  Europe's  greatest  statesmen,  Bis- 
marck, found  that  he  had  made  a  fatal  mistake  in 
making  light  of  papal  power.  In  1874,  when  Bismarck 
promulgated  the  famous  May  Laws  against  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church,  he  gave  utterance  to  the  proud 
saying,  "  Non  Canossamus,"  meaning  thereby  that  it 
would  never  again  be  the  dire  necessity  of  the  German 
Empire  to  humiliate  itself  before  the  Papacy,  fas  Em- 
peror Henry  IV.  had  been  driven  to  bow  in  abject 
submission  to  Pope  Gregory  VII.  at  Canossa  in  1077. 
Fortune  proved  that  he  was  wrong,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  yield.  Thus,  after  eight  hundred  years,  the 
Holy  See  had  not  lost  the  upper  hand  in  Germany, 
and  still  to-day  the  Central,  or  Catholic,  party  in  the 
German  Reichstag  is  the  decisive  party.;  Macaulay 
has  remarked,  and  he  here  only  repeats  what  had  been 
remarked  before,  that  the  Catholic  Church  owes  no 
small  part  of  its  success  to  the  capacity  it  has  at  all 
times  displayed  for  making  use  of  the  excessive.  To 
make  ourselves  clearer,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  at  no  time  found  it  necessary  to  exclude  from  its 
communion  even  its  most  fanatical  members.  Where 
Protestantism  would  have  split  off  into  some  fresh  and 
independent  sect,  Roman  Catholicism  has  created  an 
order,  or  something  equivalent.  Instead  of  driving  the 
over-zealous  into  opposition  by  an  attempt  to  reduce 

141 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

them  to  a  level  of  conformity,  it  lias  turned  the  super- 
abundant fervor  into  a  useful  and  appropriate  chan- 
nel, thus  avoiding  the  excessive  subdivision  and  de- 
centralization which  makes  the  weakness  of  Protestant- 
ism. Roman  Catholicism  finds  room  within  its  limits 
for  such  associations  as  the  Jansenists,  the  Trappists, 
and  the  Poor  Clares,  all  of  which  may  be  considered 
as  extreme  sects,  but  all  of  which  remain  faithful  to 
the  mother-Church. 

(It  was  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Lurch  stood  at  the  summit  of  her  glory,  and  it  is  then 
that  she  rendered  the  most  conspicuous  service  to  man- 
kind. It  is  impossible  to  even  hazard  a  guess  as  to 
what  the  modern  countries  of  Europe  would  be  even 
now  had  it  not  been  for  the  monastic  establishments 
in  mediawal  times.  They  alone  shielded  the  flicker- 
ing light  of  civilization  from  utter  extinction,  and  the 
great  monasteries  were  the  only  bright  spots  that  stood 
out  against  the  night  of  feudal  barbarity.  It  has,  un- 
happily, become  the  fashion  in  later  days  to  depreciate 
the  merits  of  those  early  monks.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  worth  of  what 
they  have  done.  The  darkness  of  the  tenth  and  elev- 
enth centuries  would  without  them  be  almost  com- 
plete. It  was  they  alone  who  still  cherished  some 
hankering  after  better  things,  and  if  they  were  not 
always  able  to  carry  out  every  desire  of  their  ideals, 
it  is,  at  any  rate,  something  that  they  should  have 
preserved  for  humanity  the  tradition  of  nobler  ideals. 
They  alone  were  able  to  afford  some  relief  amid  the 

142 


KELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

surrounding  poverty  and  misery,  to  ameliorate  the  lot 
of  the  downtrodden  serf,  and  curb  the  passion  for  de- 
struction of  the  nobility.  Between  serf  and  lord  there 
was  little  to  discriminate  as  far  as  culture  was  con- 
cerned ;  learning,  such  as  it  was,  was  the  monopoly  of 
the  clergy,  and  in  the  clerical  state  alone  was  it  pos- 
sible to  rise  above  the  strict  class  distinctions;  from 
the  clerical  schools  and  universities  radiated  the  light 
of  knowledge.  The  early  Middle  Ages  were  times  of 
struggle  and  strife ;  scarcely  a  foot  of  Continental  soil 
but  was  not  yearly  drenched  with  blood.  The  clergy 
alone  ventured  to  maintain  the  ideal  of  peace,  and  they 
alone  conceived,  and  to  some  extent  enforced,  such 
measures  as  the  truce  of  God  and  the  peace  of  God, 
by  which  fighting  was  forbidden,  under  heavy  eccle- 
siastical pains  and  penalties,  at  certain  times  of  festi- 
val and  on  certain  days  of  the  week.  All  these  were 
tendencies  in  the  right  direction.  In  that  period  of  tu- 
mult and  disorder  organization  was  to  be  found  hard- 
ly anywhere  save  within  monastic  walls.  "We  must 
not  imagine  that  the  monks  restricted  themselves 
to  spiritual  exercises  and  spiritual  action.  Their 
life  was  eminently  a  life  of  practical  toil.  At  a  time 
when  all  was  disunion  and  infinite  subdivision  the 
massed  capital  of  the  religious  orders  was  especial- 
ly effective.  They  were  great  agriculturists  and  land- 
owners, as  many  of  their  surviving  cartularies,  or  prop- 
erty inventories,  show.  They  possessed  wide  lands  and 
numberless  bond  servants,  the  latter  treated,  no  doubt, 
more  humanely  than  their  brethren  under  lay  feudal 

143 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

landowners.  The  monastic  settlements  were  like  lit- 
tle oases  of  deforestation  in  the  ever-increasing,  ever- 
spreading,  ever-thickening  jungle  of  Europe,  fast  re- 
lapsing into  its  primeval  undergrowth.  The  monks, 
however,  did  great  spiritual  service  as  well,  when  the 
secular  clergy,  through  simony  and  worldliness,  were 
becoming  rapidly  undistinguishable  from  the  rest  of 
the  feudal  nobility.  Amid  all  this  work  of  digging  and 
delving,  farming  and  deforesting,  the  regular  clergy 
found  time  to  think  out  artistic  ideals,  and  to  apply 
themselves  to  executing  them.  To  them  we  owe  Gothic 
art  in  its  entirety,  and  especially  Gothic  architecture, 
which  at  this  time  was  beginning  to  clothe  Europe 
with  its  fair  robe  of  churches  and  cathedrals,  deli- 
cate lace-like  tracery,  and  pointed  ogival  arches.  Of 
course,  those  orders  living  a  life  of  artificial  absti- 
nence, being,  as  it  were,  dehumanized,  were  liable  to 
periods  of  decadence ;  in  fact,  most  of  the  new  founda- 
tions were  movements  in  the  direction  of  reform,  but 
until  the  twelfth  century  reform  was  always  active,  al- 
ways ready  to  cauterize  the  diseased  monastic  com- 
munities. 

The  orders  were  at  first  independent — rather,  each 
monastery  was  an  independent,  self-governing  unity — 
but  by  degrees  the  tendency  to  centralization  began  to 
dominate.  The  monasteries  became  grouped,  and  also 
gradually  came  to  be  of  a  more  monarchic  constitu- 
tion; the  abbots  were  made  answerable  to  the  Holy 
See ;  the  abbot  of  Cluny  was  so  important  as  to  enjoy 
ipso  facto  the  privileges  of  a  cardinal.     Thus  the 

144 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

Papacy,  at  variance  often  with  the  secular  clergy,  still 
possessed  through  the  regular  clergy  a  strong  hold 
over  nearly  the  whole  of  Europe.  It  was  by  organiza- 
tion, when  organization  was  elsewhere  unknown,  that 
the  monastic  orders  achieved  their  great  success. 

We  have  now  seen  what  wonderful  success  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  achieved  in  the  organization 
of  the  monastic  or  regular  clergy,  and  how  that  clergy, 
in  order  to  free  itself  from  interference  upon  the  part 
of  its  secular  ecclesiastical  superiors,  placed  itself 
under  the  immediate  domination  of  Rome.  But  this 
is  by  no  means  all  the  work  of  Rome.  There  was 
still  the  secular  clergy  to  bring  to  a  kindred  stage  of 
organization.  This  was  brought  about  by  two  prin- 
cipal series  of  measures,  due  almost  entirely  in  con- 
ception and  execution  to  the  great  Pope  Hildebrand 
(Gregory  VII.).  He  saw  that,  if  Rome  was  to  main- 
tain her  dominion,  she  must  make  her  ruling  agents 
entirely  dissimilar  to  those  over  whom  they  were  to 
rule.  This  is  a  broad  political  principle  which  has 
often  since  been  recognized  and  formulated,  perhaps 
by  none  more  succinctly  and  precisely  than  by  John 
Selden,  who  declares  that  "  all  men  that  would  get 
power  over  others  must  make  themselves  as  unlike 
them  as  they  can."  This  deep  psychological  idea  was 
grasped  once  and  for  all  by  Hildebrand,  and  by  a 
series  of  measures  he  established  the  celibacy  of  the 
secular  clergy,  who  up  to  1073  a.d.  had  been  per- 
mitted to  marry.  They  were  thus  estranged  from 
their  surroundings,  and  it  is  certainly  due  in  no  small 
10  145 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

degree  to  this  fact  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  achieved  a  degree  of  political  success  which  the 
Protestant  and  Greek  churches,  where  marriage  of 
priests  is  permitted,  have  never  been  able  to  attain. 
The  other  set  of  measures  by  which  the  power  of  the 
Roman  Church  was  secured  has  been  called  the  Strife 
of  the  Investitures.  It  aimed  at  freeing  all  ecclesi- 
astical appointments  from  lay  interference,  conferring 
the  right  to  nominate  to  all  ecclesiastical  benefices  upon 
the  Pope  alone;  in  this  it  was  eminently  successful. 
The  Protestant  Church  has  failed  to  establish  any 
such  principle, as  is  amply  testified  by  the  conge  d'elire, 
by  which  the  English  Government  practically  nomi- 
nates to  all  bishoprics,  and  also  by  the  lay  bestowal  of 
livings. 

All  questions  of  dogma  were  laid  once  and  for  all 
to  rest  by  the  declarations  of  the  great  Council  of 
Trent  (1545-1563),  and  so  strictly  were  the  dogmatic 
principles  formulated  that  they  are  forever  placed 
beyond  the  reach  of  casuistry  and  debate.  On  points 
of  dogma  it  is  impossible  that  any  further  serious  dif- 
ferences should  arise.  So  much  did  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  achieve  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  spite 
of  her  previous  unsuccessful  attempts  at  Pisa  (1409), 
Constance  (1414-1418),  and  Basle  (1431-1443).  No 
lay  state  can  boast  such  a  degree  of  internal  organi- 
zation or  such  a  formulation  of  its  political  tenets. 
The  dogmas  proclaimed  at  the  last  oecumenical  or 
general  council  (1869-1870)  are  only  logical  conse- 
quences of  the  Tridentine  council's  declarations. 

146 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

Perhaps  the  dogma  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
which  has  been  most  obnoxious  to  Protestants  is  that 
of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  This  dogma  is,  how- 
ever, for  the  most  part,  completely  misunderstood; 
it  is  the  logical  sequence  of  the  whole  constitution  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  was  really  already 
consecrated  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  declares 
the  papal  authority  superior  to  that  of  any  oecumeni- 
cal council.  If  the  word  "  infallibility  "  is  not  there, 
the  essence  of  the  dogma  is  certainly  there.  There  is 
nothing  personal  in  papal  infallibility;  it  is  merely 
official,  and  only  applies  to  declarations  made  by  the 
Pope  ex  cathedra.  As  in  a  state  there  must  be  finality 
in  matters  political,  so  in  the  ecclesiastical  polity 
there  must  be  finality  in  matters  ecclesiastical.  Thus 
papal  infallibility  stands  on  a  line  with  the  final 
jurisdiction  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  a  current  notion  in  Protestant  countries  that 
with  the  spread  of  enlightenment  must  come  the  de- 
cline of  the  Roman  Church.  There  is  at  present  no 
sign  of  such  a  decay,  and  no  reason  for  us  to  forebode 
its  approach.  The  Roman  Church  is  not  directly 
founded  on  enlightenment,  and  cannot  therefore  be 
destroyed  by  the  spread  of  such  enlightenment.  There 
is,  indeed,  something  impressive  in  the  present  atti- 
tude of  wholesale  condemnation  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  maintains  towards  the  progress  of 
modern  science,  an  attitude  which  is  proclaimed  in  the 
most  uncompromising  fashion  by  the  syllabus  of  1864. 

147 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

According  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  man  can 
neither  create  nor  invent  truth;  he  can  only  grasp  re- 
vealed truth.  Since  all  truth  has  been  long  ago  re- 
vealed, according  to  Roman  Catholic  dogma,  modern 
science  is  a  mere  contradiction  in  terms,  there  being  no 
principles  of  knowledge  left  to  discover.  This  is  the 
philosophical  attitude  of  the  mediaeval  scholastics, 
chief  among  them  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  is  still 
the  attitude  of  Roman  Catholic  Thomistic  philoso- 
phers. The  popes  themselves  are  constantly  com- 
plaining that  they  have  sustained,  through  the  usurpa- 
tion of  their  temporal  possessions  in  Italy,  at  the 
hands  of  the  Italian  kings,  grave  loss  of  authority 
and  influence.  However,  from  the  consideration  of 
Roman  Church  history,  and  of  the  actual  influence 
of  the  Roman  Church  at  present,  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  the  Curia  in  the  Vatican,  now  re- 
duced to  what  is  apparently  purely  spiritual  influ- 
ences, has  still  a  power  so  great  that  nothing  short  of 
ignorance  or  wilful  blindness  can  venture  to  predict 
the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


vin 

RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS.— II 

Cause  of  universal  religions  is  exclusively:  personality.  Short 
sketch  of  the  personality  of  Moses,  Jesus,  Mohammed,  and 
Calvin.  The  futility  of  modern  so-called  Higher  Criticism, 
which  may  or  may  not  destroy  this  or  that  passage  or 
chapter  in  a  canonical  book,  but  which  utterly  fails  in 
the  construction  of  the  main  point:  the  personality  of  the 
founders  of  religion. 

All  the  numerous  facts  that  we  have  grouped  to- 
gether to  form  the  preceding  chapter  have  been  in- 
tended to  impress  the  reader  with  the  immense  and 
lasting  effects  wrought  by  the  so-called  universal  re- 
ligions. With  regard  to  Buddhism  and  Mohammedan- 
ism, vast  as  has  been  the  expenditure  of  erudition  and 
research,  we  really  know  comparatively  little ;  and  as 
to  the  causes  of  their  widespread  influence  we  are 
still  wofully  ignorant.  With  Christianity  and  Juda- 
ism, although  the  amount  of  learned  toil  which  has 
been  concentrated  on  them  has  been  infinitely  greater, 
we  are  not  much  further  advanced.  The  countless  ef- 
forts which  have  been  made,  and  are  every  day  being- 
made,  to  solve  the  riddle  of  their  immense  effect  upon 
most  parts  of  the  world  have  so  far  been  singularly 
fruitless.  Of  course,  to  fervent  believers  who  un- 
hesitatingly  ascribe   everything   to   direct  revelation 

149 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

and  to  the  will  of  God,  and  attempt  to  offer  no  further 
explanation,  the  problem  offers  no  difficulties.  With 
unbelievers  the  case  is  different;  and  it  were  vain  to 
deny  that  in  both  Europe  and  America  untold  num- 
bers of  more  or  less  highly  cultured  people  have,  by 
a  false  and  incompetent  method,  arrived  at  a  whole- 
sale condemnation  of  Christianity,  or  at  an  attitude  of 
sneering  and  contemptuous  indifference.  For  them 
the  Bible  is  a  book  like  any  other  book,  full  of  half- 
historical,  half-legendary  stories,  which  you  may  be- 
lieve or  not,  according  to  the  measure  of  your  cre- 
dulity. When  they  discover  that  many  of  those  stories 
have  been  found  in  earlier  forms  unearthed  among  the 
most  ancient  tablets  and  inscriptions  of  Babylonia 
and  Assyria,  brought  to  light  in  Egypt,  or  rediscovered 
in  very  modified  form  in  pre-Christian  Buddhist  rec- 
ords, their  scepticism  is  only  heightened,  and  they  are 
hardly  willing  to  leave  the  Bible  the  credit  of  being 
an  artistic  but  plagiaristic  compilation.  Others, 
again,  with  a  more  learned  turn  of  mind,  have  gone 
deeply  into  such  books  as  the  famous  Supernatural 
Religion,  in  which  the  results  of  the  so-called  Higher 
Criticism,  or  the  researches  of  mostly  German  neo- 
theologians,  have  been  dished  up  in  the  most  erudite 
and  imposing  fashion.  The  former  class  of  unbe- 
lievers is  convinced  that  Christianity  is  purely  deriva- 
tive, that  it  is  a  mere  collection  of  old  stories,  myths, 
and  legends  tricked  out  in  a  new  and  more  or  less 
attractive  garb.  The  followers  of  the  Higher  Criti- 
cism are  convinced  either  that  the  whole  life  of  Jesus 

150 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

is  a  mere  myth,  or  that  at  the  best  it  is  an  allegory 
or  a  downright  historical  mystification. 

In  order  to  grasp  firmly  and  completely  the  causes 
of  the  unique  success  of  Christianity,  we  are  bound  to 
dwell  on  the  two  classes  of  unbelievers  whose  views 
we  have  just  briefly  outlined. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  first  group  to  disprove  the 
peculiar  power  of  Christianity  by  tracing,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  externals,  such  as  the  signs,  symbols,  and 
emblems,  to  the  legends  of  the  old  nations  of  Asia  and 
elsewhere.  When  they  are  enabled  to  demonstrate 
that  the  festivals  of  the  Christian  Church  are  merely 
survivals  of  far  more  ancient  holidays;  that  Christ- 
mas was  instituted  long  ages  before  the  first  year  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  is  identical  with  the  Saturnalia  of 
the  Romans ;  that  the  cross  was  employed  as  a  religious 
emblem  long  before  the  date  assigned  for  the  great  cru- 
cifixion;— when  they  can  prove  indisputably  the  non- 
Christian  origin  of  a  thousand  such  details,  they  are 
ready  to  rub  their  hands  with  contentment,  thinking, 
as  they  do,  that  they  have  thereby  dealt  the  final  blow 
to  the  agonizing  phantom  of  Christianity.  Perhaps 
the  most  famous  leader  of  this  school  of  sceptics  was 
Frangois  Dupuis,  who  published  his  great  work  on 
the  Origine  de  tous  les  Cultes  at  the  time  of  the 
French  Revolution.  He  began  by  making  many  very 
remarkable  discoveries  concerning  the  chronological 
systems  of  the  ancients,  and  especially  concerning  the 
Zodiac.  He  very  soon  began,  carried  away  by  the 
ingenious  nature  of  his  theories,  to  see  in  the  Zodiac 

151 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

an  explanation  of  all  mythological  stories  of  the  an- 
cients, and  he  thereupon  endeavored  to  show  that  all 
the  legends  of  Christianity,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
Babylonian  and  other  religions,  are  merely  trans- 
muted tales  about  the  Zodiac.  Another  book  very 
well  known  in  its  day  was  the  Anacalypsis,  by  God- 
frey Higgins;  its  tendency  is  identical.  The  Chris- 
tian emblems  of  baptism,  Christian  ritual,  Christian 
vestments  are  none  of  them  original.  All  find  their 
counterpart  in  the  Druidic  ceremonial,  or  at  least  in 
the  ceremonial  of  other  pre-Christian  beliefs.  We 
shall  not  be  at  pains  to  disprove  such  statements  as 
the  above,  all  of  which  we  shall,  however,  endeavor  to 
point  out  are  wide  of  the  real  question.  It  is  not  for 
a  moment  possible,  nor  is  it  our  intention,  to  deny  that 
there  is  often  a  remarkable  similarity,  and  very  pos- 
sibly a  relationship,  between  the  signs  and  symbols  of 
the  old  Christian  ritual  and  those  of  more  ancient 
creeds.  We  would  not  refuse  to  believe  that  between 
the  parables  and  legends  of  the  New  Testament  and 
similar  stories  in  pre-Christian  and  Buddhist  books 
there  exists  a  strong  family  likeness.  The  similarity 
is  too  evident  to  escape  the  least  perspicacious  eye. 
What  is,  however,  now  asserted,  and  what  we  shall 
later  on  prove  in  greater  detail,  is  that  the  greatest 
number  of  those  similarities,  of  those  coincidences,  of 
those  identities,  is  insufficient  to  show  that  Christi- 
anity is  a  mere  transmutation  of  Buddhism,  Druid- 
ism,  or  any  other  pre-Christianism. 

The  theme  of  the  second  category  of  unbelievers  is 
152 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

essentially  the  same,  although  in  this  case  it  depends 
for  support  upon  more  subtle  philological  refinements. 
We  shall  now  trace,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  the 
drift  of  the  school  of  Tubingen.  It  is  now  universally 
recognized  by  critics  of  the  New  Testament  that  a  very 
great  number  of  the  books  which  are  usually  associated 
with  the  names  of  the  Apostles  are  not  really  directly 
Apostolic.  The  different  schools  of  theologians  have 
waged  bitter  war  as  to  what  is  the  real  authority  on 
which  these  books  repose.  Are  they  really  true  and 
fair  representations  of  what  was  actually  taught  by 
the  Apostles?  Do  they  preserve  for  us  the  story  of 
the  life  of  Christ  as  it  was  handed  down  by  the  Apos- 
tles? Did  St.  Paul  really  write  such  and  such  an 
Epistle,  or  was  it  composed  by  another  ?  The  Tubingen 
school,  which  dates  its  foundation  from  the  appearance 
of  the  famous  Life  of  Christ  by  Strauss,  has  on  the 
whole  taken  up  a  very  strong  negative  position.  It 
asserts  that  nearly  all,  or  at  all  events  the  large  ma- 
jority, of  the  New  Testamentary  writings  are  mere 
frauds  concocted  by  later  theologians,  after  the  second 
century  a.d.,  to  support  doctrines  of  their  own  crea- 
tion. Our  extraneous  evidence  as  to  the  early  exist- 
ence of  most  of  the  New  Testament  books  is  very 
fragmentary,  consisting  for  the  most  part  in  second- 
hand passages  from  Papias,  a  disciple  of  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  who  was  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia, 
and  is  conjectured  to  have  died  about  15G  a.d.  These 
passages,  preserved  for  us  by  Eusebius,  have  been 
turned,  twisted,  and  contorted  in  order  to  supply  any 

153 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

kind  of  evidence.  Tims  every  book  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment has  been  subjected  to  the  most  detailed  and  de- 
structive criticism,  until  very  little  survives  beyond 
the  four  major  Epistles  of  St.  Paul ;  the  text  even  of 
these  is  declared  corrupt  in  the  extreme,  and  full  of 
subsequent  embroideries  and  interpolations.  These 
are  the  main  lines  of  the  great  book  by  Ferdinand 
Baur,  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  de- 
clares that  the  four  Epistles,  to  the  Romans,  to  the 
Corinthians,  and  to  the  Galatians,  are  alone  undoubt- 
edly genuine.  All  the  other  Epistles  are  subject  to 
greater  or  lesser  degrees  of  suspicion.  He  then  goes 
on  to  investigate,  in  his  Critical  Researches  into  the 
Canonical  Gospels  (1847),  the  discrepancies  be- 
tween the  four  Evangelists;  he  endeavors  to  prove 
what  are  the  theological  motives  with  which  the  Gos- 
pels have  been  written,  and  to  show  that  the  more  this 
theological  motive  predominates,  the  less  can  the  Gos- 
pel possess  of  historical  value.  The  results  of  these 
two  important  books  are  embodied  in  one  great  work, 
the  third  of  the  series,  Christianity  and  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  the  Three  First  Centuries.  It  is 
clearly  demonstrated  that  the  unity  which  is  supposed 
to  have  prevailed  in  the  early  Christian  Church  is  a 
mere  empty  imagination,  and  that  all  the  extant  New 
Testament  writings  are  fragments  of  a  widespread 
controversial  literature;  they  are  all  written  with  the 
object  of  supporting  some  particular  dogma,  and  this 
argumentative  basis  must  necessarily  impair,  not  to 
say  destroy,  their  historical  value.     When  we  get  up 

154 


RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

after  reading  the  masterpieces  of  the  Tubingen  school, 
it  is  to  behold  all  our  authorities  shattered  into  a 
thousand  atoms,  and  if  we  have  been  carried  away 
by  their  philological  methods  of  reasoning,  to  see  in 
the  life  of  Christ  a  mere  myth,  a  mere  creation  of 
some  obscure  sect  of  controversialists. 

The  Old  Testament  has  fared  but  little  better;  it 
also  has  been  subjected  to  a  minute  process  of  philo- 
logical criticism;  here  it  is  the  personality  of  Moses 
which  has  been  torn  into  shreds.  Layer  upon  layer 
of  additions  have  been  discovered,  more  especially  in 
the  Pentateuch.  We  cannot  go  into  details  about  the 
disputes  between  the  various  schools  of  Jehovists,  and 
Jahvists,  the  theories  of  Graaf  and  De  Wette,  but 
suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Old  Testament  issues  from 
this  war  of  criticism  as  battered  and  unrecognizable 
as  did  the  New  Testament. 

With  the  limited  space  at  our  disposal,  it  would 
be  quite  out  of  the  question  for  us  to  endeavor  to 
give  a  full  orientation  of  the  history  and  value  of 
these  various  schools  of  Higher  Criticism.  We  shall 
limit  ourselves  to  pointing  out  the  fallacy  of  their 
methods. 

Few  of  the  historians  of  Christianity  have  ap- 
proached their  task  in  anything  like  a  philosophical 
spirit.  It  has  never  entered  their  minds  to  ask  them- 
selves the  simple  question,  whether  the  means  at  their 
disposal,  their  instruments  for  investigating  the  sub- 
ject, are  really  sufficient  or  satisfactory.  It  is  the 
first  step  in  philosophy  to  investigate  the  main  tool  of 

155 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

philosophy,  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  mind,  and 
to  find  out  whether  it  is  a  proper  and  adequate  instru- 
ment of  thought.  It  has  rarely  happened  that  a 
theologian  has  ever  cast  any  doubt  upon  his  means 
and  methods.  Has  he  sufficient  data  in  the  Greek 
texts  which  have  been  handed  down  to  him,  and  which 
are  at  best  one-sided  reports  of  events,  perhaps  very  in- 
sufficiently understood  by  those  by  whom  they  were 
compiled  ?  Must  he  not  widen  his  horizon  of  observa- 
tion ?  Must  he  not  apply  some  more  living  test  ?  In 
all  other  domains  of  science  we  see  the  worker,  who 
is  confronted  by  an  inexplicable  phenomenon,  seeking 
anxiously  for  some  kindred  phenomenon  in  order  that 
he  may  institute  a  comparison.  The  physicist  often 
has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  reproduce  the  re- 
quired phenomenon,  and  so  to  arrive  at  the  causes. 
The  historian  and  theologian  must  adopt  some  similar 
method  of  research.  They  cannot,  of  course,  repro- 
duce their  phenomena  at  will ;  they  are,  however, 
sometimes  able  to  watch  kindred  phenomena  that  have 
been  reproduced  in  the  course  of  history.  Failing  this, 
they  are  at  least  able  to  make  a  comparison  between 
kindred  events  which  they  will  find  recurring  through- 
out history.  It  will  at  once  be  seen  how  remote  such  a 
scientific  method  has,  as  a  rule,  been  from  the  histori- 
cal and  theological  investigator.  Even  during  our 
own  days  it  has  been  possible  to  watch,  in  Europe  and 
America,  the  growth  of  great  religious  sects,  which, 
if  they  cannot  be  for  a  moment  ranked  on  the  same 
level  as  Christianity,  have  at  least  developed  along 

156 


RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

sufficiently  similar  lines  to  make  a  comparison  be- 
tween them  and  Christianity  a  fruitful  source  of  in- 
vestigation. The  origins  of  Christianity  are  remote 
and  obscure;  let  us  admit  that  the  records  dealing 
with  them  are  tinctured  with  party  bias  and  untrust- 
worthy, but  the  whole  history,  say  of  Wesleyanism,  or 
even  of  Mormonism,  is  within  our  immediate  reach; 
we  can  yet  talk  with  people  whose  ancestors  or  who 
themselves  have  been  influenced  by  the  teachings  and 
felt  the  personality  of  John  Wesley  or  of  Joseph 
Smith.  There  is  a  better  chance  of  our  being  able  to 
understand  the  influence  of  Calvinism,  or  Mohammed- 
anism, where  our  information  is  more  copious,  and 
where  a  finicking  process  of  verbal  criticism  is  not 
necessary  to  verify  our  arguments  step  by  step,  than 
we  have  of  explaining  the  spread  of  Christianity. 
When  we  have  succeeded  in  grasping  the  minor,  the 
more  modern  and  less  obscure  phenomenon,  we  shall 
possess  a  powerful  leverage  with  which  to  approach 
the  major  question. 

It  is,  however,  imperatively  necessary  that  the  read- 
er should  grasp  the  main  point  with  absolute  clearness, 
and  it  will  be  advisable  to  make  him  do  so  by  an  ap- 
parent digression. 

The  storm  of  controversy  which  has  raged  unremit- 
tingly about  the  Homeric  question  for  the  last  century 
bears  in  many  points  a  striking  resemblance  to  that 
which  has  been  battering  against  the  authority  of  the 
New  Testament.  It  has  been  raised  by  much  the  same 
philological  wind.    The  authorship  of  Homer  has  been 

157 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

splif.  subdivided,  and  pared  down  until  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  there  remains  a  single  isolated  line 
which  can  be  safely  left  to  the  credit  of  Homer  or  "  the 
other  author  of  the  same  name."  Differences  of  dialect 
have  been  pointed  out,  and  lines  that  have  been  inter- 
polated; passages  stolen  from  other  poets  have  been 
carefully  dissected  out  of  the  main  body  of  the  poems. 
Especially  has  the  Odyssey  been  victimized,  and  the 
various  cantos  from  which  it  is  supposed  to  have  been 
welded  together  have  been  precipitated  and  assigned  to 
independent  rhapsodists.  No  man  has  distinguished 
himself  more  in  this  field  of  polemics  than  the  proto 
and  arch  mutilator  of  Homer,  F.  A.  Wolf,  who  first 
gave  vent  to  the  disruptive  theory  in  his  famous  Pro- 
legomena in  Homerum,  printed  in  1795. 

But  all  this  mass  of  verbal  criticism  falls  wide  of 
the  mark.  Wolf  and  the  true  admirer  of  Homer  are 
not  really  interested  in  the  same  thing.  It  is  difficult 
in  a  few  simple  words  to  sketch  their  different  attitudes 
of  mind.  Wolf's  criticism  is  almost  exclusively  direct- 
ed against  the  external,  almost  tangible,  elements  of 
the  Odyssey;  upon  the  soul  of  the  poem  he  does  not 
really  touch  at  all.  There  is,  however,  a  great  deal 
more  in  the  Odyssey  than  a  mere  linking  together  of 
melodious  lines  full  of  fine  phrases,  and  telling  more 
or  less  interesting  stories.  A  man  may  have  read  the 
Odyssey  and  appreciated  it,  he  may  have  forgotten 
the  words,  and  have  but  a  dim  and  uncertain  ring  in 
his  ears  of  the  majestic  roll  of  its  verse,  but,  neverthe- 
less, he  has  not  forgotten  Homer.    He  has  but  to  close 

158 


KELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

his  eyes  a  moment  and  there  will  rise  before  his  mind 
the  grand  figure  of  Ulysses,  the  man  of  unyielding 
patience,  the  man  of  infinite  cunning,  the  ever-faith- 
ful husband  of  Penelope. 

It  is  in  vain  that  the  philologers  have  spent  lives 
of  toil  in  stratifying  the  Odyssey,  in  assigning  dates 
to  particular  poetical  deposits,  because  at  these  dates 
alone  such  and  such  a  particle  was  used,  or  because 
at  this  date  they  conceive  the  fossilized  digamma  to 
have  disappeared.  All  their  geologizing  will  not  do 
away  with  the  personality  of  Homer,  because  Homer 
does  not  consist,  as  may  perhaps  be  imagined,  of  a 
definite  number  of  stanzas,  a  definite  number  of  lines. 
The  immortal  value  of  his  poems  lies  in  a  few  and  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful  types  of  humanity.  The  story  of 
the  Odyssey  is  amusing,  interesting,  but  without  the 
great  ethical  worth  of  its  great  characters,  of  Ulysses, 
of  Penelope,  of  Telemachus,  it  could  not  claim  to 
rank  higher  than  many  a  German  fairy  tale.  Each 
of  these  mighty  personalities  must  have  been  drawn  by 
a  single  hand.  A  personality  in  literature  cannot  be 
the  outcome  of  a  process  of  evolution;  it  is  the  con- 
ception of  one  man,  taken  from  a  single  model,  per- 
haps a  little  idealized.  The  moral  type  cannot  have 
been  created  by  the  author  out  of  his  own  inner  con- 
sciousness ;  we  may  be  as  sure  of  the  real  existence  of 
the  prototype  of  Ulysses  as  we  may  be  sure  of  the  real 
existence  of  Homer.  Whether  all  the  great  characters 
are  the  work  of  the  same  author  is  not  quite  so  certain. 
At  all  events,  the  only  permissible  stratification  of  the 

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SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Odyssey  would  be  a  character  stratification.  The 
philological  method  is  futile.  The  character  of  Ulysses 
running  through  the  whole  poem  from  end  to  end  is 
of  one  piece,  and  bears  the  impress  of  one  great  mind. 
We  do  not  for  a  moment  wish  to  imply  that  Homer 
did  not  borrow  one  anecdote  from  one  author,  one 
from  another,  in  order  to  beautify  his  work ;  he  may 
have  bodily  transferred  whole  passages — this  is  quite 
possible.  The  point  is  that  the  unity  of  the  poem,  the 
guiding  spirit,  reflects  the  mind  of  one  man. 

To  bring  home  the  essence  of  what  it  has  been  our 
wish  to  demonstrate  above,  let  us  take  a  few  conclusive 
examples  from  more  modern  authors,  and  more  modern 
books,  the  history  of  the  composition  of  which  is  more 
familiar  to  us.  What  work  could  better  serve  our 
purpose  than  "  Hamlet,"  which  will  also  give  us  an 
opportunity  for  saying  a  word  or  two  upon  another 
heated  literary  squabble  ?  In  this  case  we  need  hardly 
do  anything  but  repeat  what  we  have  already  said 
concerning  the  Odyssey.  What  is  it  that  we  find  to 
admire  in  "  Hamlet  "  ?  Is  it  the  famous  soliloquy,  "  to 
be  or  not  to  be  "  ?  Is  it  the  apparition  of  the  spectre 
of  Hamlet's  father  ?  Is  it  the  famous  scene  within  a 
scene?  JSTo,  it  is  the  great  solitary  and  melancholy 
figure  of  Hamlet  himself  which  sinks  deep  into  our 
brain  and  there  remains  unalterable,  indelible,  long 
after  the  words,  the  lines,  the  scenes,  and  the  acts  have 
vanished  in  oblivion.  It  is  in  this  that  lies  the  great- 
ness of  Shakespeare,  and  it  is  this  which  is  ignored  or 
avoided  by  all  Baconian  theorists.    Of  "  Hamlet "  we 

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RELIGIOUS   SUCCESS 

know  the  sources,  as  we  do  of  many  of  the  other  plays. 
But  nobody  reads  the  crabbed  Latin  of  Saxo  Gram- 
maticus,  because  he  will  not  find  there  the  great  per- 
sonality of  Hamlet.  The  external  garb  of  the  play  is 
not  dubious  in  its  origin,  but  from  whom  among  his 
contemporaries  Shakespeare  took  the  soul  of  "  Ham- 
let "  we  do  not  know.  This  is  the  point  missed  by  all 
the  Baconian  party.  Even  if,  by  aid  of  ciphers  or  oth- 
er mystifications,  we  were  enabled  to  track  down  whole 
passages  from  the  plays  to  Bacon,  we  should  not  by 
any  means  have  proved  the  case,  even  if  we  had  proved 
a  prima  facie  probability.  The  words  are  second  rate, 
the  character  is  the  essential.  As  far  as  verbal  dex- 
terity is  concerned,  a  clever  collaboration  of  authors 
might  well  have  produced  the  play,  but  a  syndicate 
could  not  have  given  birth  to  the  great  and  fasci- 
nating type.  Personality  alone  creates  personality, 
and  it  is  in  this  faculty  that  Shakespeare  outstrips 
Marlowe,  often  his  peer  as  far  as  words  go. 

To  return  to  Homer,  he  excels  not  only  in  metre 
and  language,  in  naivete  and  wisdom;  all  these  feat- 
ures we  find  in  very  many  less-valued  epics.  His 
paramount  excellence  is  in  the  delineation  of  those 
great  types  of  gods  and  men  which  have  until  to-day 
charmed  and  fascinated  the  reader,  inspired  the  artist 
and  the  thinker;  types  that  interest  us  in  childhood, 
manhood,  and  old  age.  It  is  in  this  that  Homer  is 
superior  to  Virgil  and  Tasso.  Both  these  poets  are 
inferior  to  him,  not  in  language,  but  in  their  in- 
capacity to  create  great  poetical  types. 

11  161 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Let  us  now  apply  the  standards  which  wc  have  made 
to  the  consideration  of  the  Bible.  Wc  shall  at  once  see 
that  the  ethical  and  religious  value  of  Moses,  the 
Prophets,  and  Jesus  is  not  so  much  in  what  they  said 
and  did,  but  in  their  very  personalities.  The  mo  nil 
teaching  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  is  exceed- 
ingly elevating,  exceedingly  beautiful ;  we  cannot  con- 
ceive any  one  wishing  to  deny  it.  It  is  not,  however, 
owing  to  these  teachings  that  Christianity  has  achieved 
its  unique  success.  The  books  of  all  the  other  great 
religions  contain  ethical  rules  and  moral  precepts 
equally,  perhaps  even  more  sublime.  Mankind  have 
always  professed  a  strong  liking  for  such  sublime  say- 
ings, the  injunctions  of  which  they,  however,  uni- 
formly fail  to  practise.  They  form,  nevertheless,  a 
moral  ideal,  which,  if  it  is  never  attained,  serves  at 
any  rate  as  a  guiding  light.  What  can  be  fairer  than 
many  of  the  noble  maxims  contained  in  the  Buddhis- 
tic books,  or  in  the  Koran?  We  are  not  surprised 
that  missionaries  among  Mohammedan  and  Buddhist 
nations  do  not  succeed  in  gathering  many  converts 
when  they  limit  their  preaching  to  pointing  out  the 
beautiful  moral  code  inculcated  by  the  Christian  writ- 
ings; unbelievers  find  in  their  own  holy  books  en- 
nobling precepts  enough  for  them  to  follow.  It  is  only 
when  the  missionaries  are  able  to  give  something  of 
the  wonderful  personality  of  Jesus  that  they  can  hope 
to  succeed  in  gaining  proselytes. 

It  is  in  this  that  we  must  find  the  great  reason  for 
the  success  of  St.  Paul ;  he  was  able  to  impress  those 

162 


RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

among  whom  he  went  with  that  marvellous  personality 
of  the  Saviour.  That  he  should  have  invented  that 
personality  is  as  impossible  as  that  Plato  should  have 
invented  the  personality  of  Socrates.  That  it  was  not 
from  repeating  the  mere  verbal  teachings  of  Jesus 
that  St.  Paul  succeeded  we  know  full  well.  There 
was  not  one  of  his  hearers  who  had  not  heard  such 
teachings  a  score  of  times  before.  It  was  not  the 
abstract  duty  of  a  moral  doctrine  which  would  drive 
the  rich  young  man  into  selling  all  that  he  had,  and  fol- 
lowing in  the  steps  of  the  Apostle ;  it  was  the  magnet- 
ism of  an  irresistible  personality.  Those  who  hesitate 
to  believe  that  the  teachings  of  Jesus  were  not  entirely 
original,  who  are  shocked  at  the  idea  that  those  teach- 
ings contain  much  of  the  moral  commonplace,  should 
look  up  the  book  of  Edmund  Spiess,  printed  at  Leip- 
zig in  1871.  Spiess  himself  was  a  fervent,  unshaken 
believer,  but  in  his  Logos  Spermatileos  he  has  made 
an  exhaustive  comparison  between  the  ancient  Greek 
authors  and  the  lessons  of  the  ISTew  Testament.  For 
every  quotation  chapter  and  verse  are  given,  and  the 
coincidences  are  astounding,  both  in  number  and  in 
quality.  Ancient  Greece  had  then  the  Christian  teach- 
ings, but  it  did  not  have  Christianity.  What  was  then 
lacking?     The  personality  of  Christ  alone. 

We  should  like  to  bear  out  our  statement  by  a  few 
examples  taken  from  more  recent  times.  We  shall 
speak  of  great  historical  personages,  great  religious 
characters,  and  we  shall  seek  to  show  that  their  great 
achievements  were  due  not  to  their  personal  genius 

163 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

alone,  not  to  their  peculiar  intelligence,  not  to  their 
station  of  life,  not  to  their  situation,  but  to  the  sheer 
force  of  their  personalities.  It  is  no  mere  hazard  that 
the  great  men  and  women  who  have  left  such  a  mark 
upon  history  have  arisen  out  of  obscure  and  humble 
places.  It  is  no  mere  chance  that  Napoleon  came  from 
half-unknown  Ajaccio;  that  Ignatius  Loyola  issued 
from  an  obscure  mountain  fastness  in  the  equally  ob- 
scure province  of  Guipuzcoa ;  that  Jeanne  D'Arc  saw 
the  light  in  the  before  unheard-of  hamlet  of  Domremy, 
on  the  marches  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine ;  above  all,  that 
Jesus  came  from  the  most  out-of-the-way  village,  Beth- 
lehem. In  all  these  personalities  we  find  one  striking 
similitude.  All  of  them  have  been  early  conscious  of 
themselves,  all  of  them  have  realized  their  vocation 
before.  Yet,  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger,  there  was  any- 
thing to  justify  such  a  conviction.  They  had  nothing 
to  depend  upon  save  their  own  personalities.  Already, 
in  the  autumn  of  1796,  at  the  time  of  his  campaign  for 
the  Quadrilateral,  Napoleon's  letters  are  full  of  the 
conviction  that  he  is  predestined  to  become  the  ruler 
of  the  world. 

The  same  clear  prescience  filled  the  heart  of  young 
Loyola.  The  great  Order  of  Jesuits  contained  nothing 
particularly  original,  nothing  that  seemed  to  proclaim 
that  it  would  surpass  in  power  all  the  great  monastic 
orders  which  had  gone  before ;  its  success  was  due 
entirely  to  the  great  personality  of  Loyola,  who  al- 
ready, as  he  lay  upon  his  bed  of  suffering  at  Pampe- 
luna,  wounded  almost  to  death,  felt  that  it  was  his 

164 


RELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

vocation  to  save  the  agonizing  Catholic  Church  from 
being  annihilated  by  the  Keformation,  and  to  restore 
it  to  its  dominating  position.  Yet  in  Loyola,  a  poor 
Basque  knight,  of  no  apparent  talent,  ignorant  beyond 
the  ordinary  degree  of  ignorance  of  his  fellows,  there 
appeared  to  be  nothing  which  predestined  him  to 
such  a  role;  all  the  same,  he  was  already  convinced  of 
his  success,  and  within  fifteen  years  he  had  founded 
his  order,  had  convinced,  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  con- 
viction, men  far  and  away  his  intellectual  superiors, 
won  over  the  hesitant  Pope  to  a  belief  in  him,  and  in 
great  measure  accomplished  his  task. 

So  again  with  Jeanne  D'Arc.  What  could  have,  on 
the  face  of  things,  appeared  a  more  ridiculous  ab- 
surdity than  that  a  rough  village  girl,  from  the  most 
unimportant  bourgade  on  half-French  territory,  should 
save  France  from  the  tide  of  invasion  which  the  King 
of  France  and  the  pick  of  French  military  talent  had 
been  powerless  to  resist  ?  We  know  the  intellectual 
capacities  of  a  French  peasant  girl  of  to-day.  What 
can  they  have  been  in  the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  ? 
Such  a  girl  was  certainly  not  likely  to  give  the  French 
generals  tutoring  in  strategy.  Yet  from  the  first  she 
was  possessed  of  her  conviction,  and  this  conviction 
carried  her  through  all  the  coarse  pleasantries  of  scof- 
fers, and  subdued  the  seigneur  of  Vaucouleurs  into 
belief  in  her  until  he  sent  her  to  the  King's  headquar- 
ters. In  a  few  months  her  task  was  done.  We  are 
not  surprised  to  hear  of  mystic  visions,  nor  is  there 
need  for  us  to  be  astonished.     How  else  should  we 

1G5 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

expect  this  peasant  girl  to  express  her  self-conviction  ? 
She  knew  of  no  such  abstractions  as  "  personality  " ; 
she  could  only  express  herself  in  the  terms  which  were 
natural  to  her  and  comprehensible  to  her  surroundings. 
Of  course  she  saw  visions;  how  else  should  she  ex- 
plain the  certainty  with  which  she  was  filled?  We 
know  that  Jeanne  was  anything  rather  than  a  lan- 
guishing mystic;  she  was  all  life  and  youth,  full  of 
ready  rejoinders  for  her  persecutors. 

Precisely  similar  is  the  conviction  of  a  higher  nature 
of  Jesus  that  He  is  the  Saviour.  We  can  well  under- 
stand that  those  about  Jesus,  impressed  by  His  grand 
personality,  would  seek  some  means  of  expressing  what 
they  felt  and  what  they  could  not  understand.  They 
had  not  at  their  fingers'  ends  the  psychological  phrase- 
ology of  to-day ;  they  were,  moreover,  common  people ; 
they  were,  besides,  Orientals,  and  to  represent  this,  to 
them,  superhuman  personality  they  employed  super- 
human imagery.  The  story  of  a  miraculous  birth  is, 
after  all,  common  to  nearly  all  the  great  personalities 
of  antiquity ;  the  birth  of  Eomulus  is  supernatural,  so 
is  that  of  Lycurgus,  and  of  many  other  great  figures  of 
ancient  history  which  we  might  mention.  Why  should 
we  take  all  these  stories  au  pied  de  la  lettre?  How 
else  would  it  have  been  possible  for  these  people  to 
express  themselves  ? 

It  is  sufficient  to  see  that,  as  in  a  few  other  cases  of 
history,  so  in  that  of  Jesus,  the  chief,  the  only,  problem 
is  not  this  or  that  text,  but  the  personality  of  the 
Saviour.     To  deny  this  personality  is  to  deny  the  fact 

166 


KELIGIOUS    SUCCESS 

that  Christianity  has  now  been  in  existence  close  on 
two  thousand  years.  Such  phenomena  as  Christianity 
derive  all  their  immense  ethical  power  from  a  com- 
manding ethical  personality,  and  from  nothing  else. 
Their  dependence  on  such  a  personality  is  a  psycho- 
logical truth,  not  a  theological  nor  an  historical.  It 
cannot  be  denied;  the  experience  of  every  day  proves 
it.  As  the  immense  force  of  Calvinism  is  all  based  on 
the  personality  of  Calvin,  and  not  on  his  theological 
teachings;  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  always 
been  vastly  superior  to  the  Catholic  Greek  Church,  be- 
cause the  latter  does  not  admit  the  supreme  person- 
ality of  a  Pope;  even  so  the  whole  of  Christianity  is 
derived  from,  based  upon,  and  consummated  in  the 
unique  personality  of  Jesus. 


IX 

SUCCESS    AMONG    LATIN    NATIONS 

The  Latin  nations  (the  French,  the  Italians,  the  Spanish).  Af- 
ter brief  discussion  of  the  Spanish,  follow  the  Italians. 
Their  two  besetting  evils,  in  spite  of  a  splendid  geopolitical 
position,  are:  (1)  In  the.  past,  that  they  have  not  won  their 
unity  by  their  own  efforts;  (2)  that  the  Papacy  constant- 
ly undermines  them.  France:  Her  history  both  the  most 
interesting  and  the  most  widely  read;  yet  France,  prac- 
tically, a  terra  incognita,  especially  to  English  -  speaking 
people.  Profound  mistakes  about  the  character  of  the 
French.  Her  women,  her  men.  Her  basal  aspirations.  Her 
wealth.  Europe's  absolute  need  of  France.  Her  destiny. 
She  will  always  be  the  leading  nation  in  Europe  on  ac- 
count of  her  wealth,  her  intellectuality,  and  her  numerous 
reverses,  that  have  sobered  and  steeled  her. 

We  have  hitherto  confined  our  observations  to  suc- 
cess in  the  past;  we  have  endeavored,  as  far  as  has 
been  within  our  power,  to  show  what  have  been  the 
causes  of  national  success,  and  when  that  success  has 
not  been  maintained,  to  assign  a  sufficient  reason  for 
its  decline.  When  success  has  been  only  one-sided,  as 
we  have  seen  was  especially  the  case  among  the  nations 
of  antiquity,  it  has  been  our  aim  to  search  out  an  ex- 
planation of  these  limitations.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
hope  that  the  lessons  which  we  have  gleaned  from 
these  historical  investigations  may  prove  of  great 
utility  in  examining  the  causes  underlying  the  suc- 

168 


/ 


SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN   NATIONS 

cess  of  modern  nations,  and  in  forecasting,  within 
reasonable  bounds,  what  we  may  expect  to  be  the  fort- 
unes of  those  nations  in  the  future.  We  have  set  our- 
selves up  standards  according  to  which  we  may  judge, 
and  for  this  reason  we  hope  the  reader,  impatient  to 
get  at  a  solution  of  the  more  personal  and  more  palpi- 
tating questions  of  the  present,  will  pardon  any  tedious 
pages  he  may  have  found. 

It  will  be  most  convenient  to  deal  first  with  the  so- 
called  Latin  nations.  Nothing  can  be  more  mislead- 
ing than  the  name,  which  would  induce  us  to  suppose 
that  there  is  a  strong  bond  of  unity  existing  between 
the  nations  speaking  Romance  languages.  The  bond 
is  purely  philological,  and  in  our  preceding  chapters 
we  have  done  all  in  our  power  to  show  that  philology 
and  race  can  never  form  the  basis  of  history.  Much 
less  can  affinity  of  language  do  so  when  affinity  of 
"  race  "  is  wanting.  But  the  resemblance  between  the 
Latin  races  is  purely  superficial.  In  national  character 
there  can  be  nothing  more  opposed  than  are  the  Ital- 
ians, Spanish,  and  French.  Ethnographically  speak- 
ing, there  is  an  equally  striking  diversity,  and  among 
these  nations  internal  individualization  is  carried  to  a 
pitch  which  we  find  nowhere  else.  Nothing  can  be 
more  dangerous  than  to  hazard  generalities  concern- 
ing the  so-called  Latin  nations.  Between  the  French 
and  Italians  there  is  a  far  wider  gulf  than  exists,  for 
instance,  between  Germans  and  Dutch.  The  Spanish, 
again,  are  absolutely  distinct  in  every  way  from 
French  or  Italians.    We  are  not  justified  in  attempting 

169 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

to  carry  the  methods  of  the  naturalist  into  the  study  of 
history.  Spain  has  fallen  from  her  high  estate,  and 
she  can  no  longer  boast  anything  but  an  insignificant 
vestige  of  the  magnificent  power  which  she  wielded  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  when  for  a  short  time  she  stood 
in  the  van  of  European  nations.  But  her  might  had 
been  fostered  into  greatness  by  peculiarly  artificial 
means,  and  when  those  means  were  cut  off  she  was 
bound  to  relapse  into  her  former  line  of  progress.  It 
is  true  that  she  has  lost,  probably  without  recall,  her 
oversea  dominions,  from  which  she  drew  in  no  small 
part  the  wealth  which  enabled  her  for  a  short  time  to 
pursue  the  most  grandiose  ambitions  in  Europe.  Be- 
fore her  transmarine  possessions  had  fallen  entirely 
away,  they  had  already  ceased  to  be  the  fathomless 
mine  of  riches  for  which  they  had  at  first  been  held. 
The  exhaustion  of  her  means  has  compelled  Spain  to 
curtail  her  exaggerated  projects,  but  it  would  be  rash 
to  conclude  that  she  is  really  a  decadent  nation.  Tier 
late  humiliation  at  the  hands  of  the  United  States  has 
drawn  upon  her  an  undue  share  of  contempt.  It  is 
well  to  remember  that  the  home  country  of  Spain  is  a 
poor  country,  in  which  it  requires  all  the  ingenuity  of 
the  inhabitants  to  make  both  ends  meet.  Spain  has 
not  the  superabundant  fertility  of  France,  and  the 
land  is  very  greatly  underpopulated.  She  thus  lacks 
the  financial  means  for  maintaining  an  imperial 
policy,  and  the  money  for  internal  government  can 
only  be  wrung  with  infinite  pain  from  the  poverty- 
ridden  inhabitant.      Perhaps  the  greatest  drawback 

170 


SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN   NATIONS 

from  which  Spain  suffers  is  her  isolation.  The  insur- 
mountable barrier  of  the  Pyrenees,  with  its  scanty 
passes,  renders  Spain  an  almost  utter  stranger  to  the 
rest  of  Europe.  She  lies  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
Continent,  and  has  no  passing  travellers;  there  is  no 
going  to  and  fro  of  strangers  through  her  midst,  and 
thus  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  in  her  the  most  con-^L 
servative  country  of  the  west.  She  is  almost  entirely 
cut  off  from  intercourse  with  the  outer  world,  and 
lacks  the  stimulus  of  the  foreigners  importing  novel 
ideas  and  excess  of  energy  which  we  have  shown  again 
and  again  to  be  so  powerful  an  incentive  to  progress. 
Spain  is  the  least  visited  country  of  Europe ;  the  num- 
ber of  pleasure-seeking  travellers  thither  is  most  re- 
stricted. Is  there,  then,  anything  astonishing  in  the 
Spanish  peasant  and  Spanish  gentleman  being  still 
tinged  with  the  Old  World  courtesy  of  centuries  ago? 
Spain  is  the  land  of  quaint  manners  and  quaint  cus- 
toms which  the  rest  of  Europe  has  long  ago  discarded 
in  the  hurry  and  scurry  of  progress.  But  manners 
and  customs  are  not  all  that  has  remained  unchanged 
in  Spain.  Spain  has  been  called  the  priest-ridden. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  say  that  she  has  been  ruined  by 
her  priestcraft,  but  the  problem  is  far  more  compli- 
cated than  that.  It  is  certain  that  her  isolation  is 
one  of  the  most  formidable  obstacles  that  bar  her  way, 
and  one  that  she  will  with  the  greatest  difficulty  sur- 
mount. Her  natural  resources  are  poor,  but,  such  as 
they  are,  they  are  very  imperfectly  developed.  The 
fertile  districts,  scattered  like  oases  along  the  coast  of 

171 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

eastern  Spain,  are  susceptible  of  considerable  exten- 
sion. This  is  a  question  of  irrigation,  and  irrigation 
is  expensive  work,  and  we  may  look  forward  to  a  very 
good  proportion  of  the  savings  of  needy  Spain  being 
devoted  for  some  time  to  come  to  this  kind  of  work, 
at  present  suffering  from  many  restrictions.  Water, 
in  the  greater  part  of  the  country,  is  worth  money.  A 
most  interesting  work  by  M.  Brunhes,  which  has  only 
just  appeared,  makes  a  special  study  of  Spanish  irriga- 
tion, and  the  writer,  who  can  speak  with  the  authority 
of  a  specialist,  holds  out  most  sanguine  prospects  for 
the  future. 

The  division  of  nations  into  the  living  and  the 
dying  was  the  idea  of  a  late  English  statesman.  We 
may  be  permitted  to  doubt  whether  any  of  the  nations 
of  modern  Europe  is  yet  in  so  morbid  a  condition  as  to 
justify  any  prediction  of  its  death.  Spain  has  cer- 
tainly declined  since  the  sixteenth  century,  when,  in 
1582,  she  was  able  to  discomfit  a  fleet  of  Italian,  Eng- 
lish, and  French  ships  on  sea  off  Terceira,  and  when 
her  infantry  battalions  were  the  envy  of  the  world. 
There  is  no  reason  to  despair  of  her  future.  For  some 
time  she  may  lag  behind  her  brethren  on  the  path  of 
progress ;  we  have  shown  that  her  position  predestines 
her  to  slowness  of  advance.  Bodily  and  mentally  the 
Spanish  are  as  sane  and  sound  as  any,  and  though 
they  may  perhaps  never  be  permitted  to  regain  the 
proud  station  which  once  they  held  in  the  forefront  of 
Europe,  they  may  very  well  attain  a  humbler  degree 
of  ambition,   develop  their  own  home  country,   and 

172 


SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN    NATIONS 

build  up  a  polity  as  remarkable  as  any  which  at  present 
exists. 

To  pass  to  the  Italians,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  they  are  the  most  gifted  nation  in  Europe.  In 
the  world  of  action,  as  in  the  world  of  thought,  they 
have  produced  men  not  only  of  great  power,  but  of 
unique  power.  Probably  no  man,  single-handed,  and 
through  the  sheer  force  of  his  own  personal  genius,  has 
ever  done  so  much  to  change  the  face  of  the  world  as 
did  the  great  Genoese,  Christopher  Columbus;  and 
what  Columbus  did  in  the  West,  Marco  Polo,  another 
Italian,  accomplished  in  the  East.  Dante  raised  the 
finest  cathedrals  in  words,  and  one  well  comparable 
with  the  greatest  buildings  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
work  of  generations.  What  characterizes  the  Italians 
above  all  is  their  initiative.  It  is  the  first  step  which 
is  the  hardest  to  make ;  but  it  is  the  Italians  who  have 
always  been  ready  to  take  the  first  step  in  action,  and 
able  to  make  the  first  step  in  new  paths  of  science. 
When  once  the  route  across  the  Atlantic  was  shown  by 
a  Columbus  or  a  Vespucci,  it  required  no  remarkable 
courage  or  enterprise  to  follow  in  their  track.  But 
imagine  the  cool  nerves  necessary  in  those  days  of 
yet  imperfect  seamanship  to  strike  boldly  out  across 
that  vast  waste  of  uncharted  waters,  in  vessels  little 
larger  than  our  coastwise  fishing-smacks,  and  with 
more  than  a  good  chance  of  never  returning.  In  all 
modern  sciences  the  Italians  have  played  the  part  of 
pioneers.  It  is  they  who  have  taken  up  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge  where  the  Greeks  or  Arabs  had  left  it. 

173 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

They  have  laid  the  foundations  of  arithmetic  and  alge- 
bra, of  physics,  electricity,  pathological  anatomy  (the 
creation  of  Morgagni)  ;  they  have  traced  the  first  lines 
in  sociology  and  in  the  philosophy  of  history.  Often 
enough  they  have  left  traces  of  their  labors  upon 
scientific  terminology,  to  remain  as  a  memorial  of 
their  achievements.  Thus  it  is  that  in  electricity  we 
have  retained  the  name  of  Volta,  the  renowned  physi- 
cist of  Pavia,  who  lived  from  1745  to  1825.  We  might 
multiply  examples  without  end. 

We  cannot  help  being  overpoweringly  impressed  by 
their  extraordinary  mental  activity,  and  by  the  diver- 
sity of  their  attainments,  which  is  almost  incredible. 
The  history  of  Italy  teems  for  the  last  eight  centuries 
with  the  most  intense  personalities.  As  we  may  ob- 
serve this  wonderful  display  of  individuality  among 
Italy's  great  men,  so  we  may  observe  it  in  the  country 
itself.  We  cannot  judge  of  the  land  until  we  have  seen 
it  all.  Each  province,  each  city,  we  might  almost  say 
each  quarter  of  each  city,  has  its  distinctive  character, 
its  own  peculiar  individuality.  This  is  the  mark  of  a 
highly  civilized  and  progressive  country.  The  Floren- 
tine is  not  a  Eoman  in  language,  looks,  or  mind,  any 
more  than  the  Eoman  is  a  Neapolitan.  Just  as  the 
country  has  no  universal  language — for  the  Tuscan, 
the  literary  vehicle,  is  an  acquired  tongue  over  most 
of  the  peninsula,  and  is  not  the  every-day  speech  of 
even  the  educated  classes  throughout  the  country — 
even  so  there  exists  no  universal  mental  type.  While 
political  union  should  give  the  land  political  strength, 

174 


SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN   NATIONS 

its  intellectual  disunion  should  be  no  less  a  source  of 
intellectual  strength. 

It  is  important  to  say  a  few  words  concerning  the 
woman  of  Italy,  in  that  we  conceive  the  ideal  perfec- 
tion of  a  country  to  consist  in  the  possession  of  men 
ripened  to  the  perfection  of  manhood.  Woman  in 
Italy,  though  far  from  being  so  all-important  a  force 
as  in  France,  is,  nevertheless,  of  very  great  influence. 
She  is  frequently  of  surprising  beauty,  of  deeply 
emotional  life,  and  yet  marked  by  the  greatest 
devotion  to  her  household  duties;  she  is,  above  all, 
thoroughly  womanly  in  the  most  noble  sense  of  the 
word. 

Perhaps  Italy's  trump  card  in  the  future*  is  her 
supremely  excellent  geopolitical  position.  In  speak- 
ing of  political  success,  we  have  had  occasion  to  point 
out  the  great  geographical  advantages  which  were  con- 
tributory to  the  rise  and  prosperity  of  Venice.  Dur- 
ing the  latter  half  of  the  last  century  the  conditions 
of  Venice  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
turies have,  by  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal,  reap- 
peared to  a  great  extent,  but  this  time  for  the  benefit 
of  Italy  as  a  whole.  Italy  is  still  the  centre  of  the 
Mediterranean  world,  but,  of  a  regenerated  Mediter- 
ranean world,  in  which  the  going  to  and  fro  of  com- 
merce is  increasing  every  day.  She  has  now  reas- 
sumed  her  former  position  midway  between  the  Orient 
and  the  Western  world. 

The  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  promises  well  for 
the  future  of  Italy.     Italy  has  not  been  able  to  avail 

175 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

herself  to  the  full  of  the  benefits  of  her  newly  acquired 
position.  She  has  had  great  evils  at  home  with  which 
to  contend,  but  within  the  coming  few  years  she  must 
forcibly  make  use  of  her  advantages.  A  good  geo- 
graphical situation  inevitably,  almost  automatically, 
confers  prosperity. 

Let  us  cast  a  glance  at  two  of  the  great  evils  against 
which  Italy  has  had  to  struggle.  After  a  thousand 
years  of  unsuccessful  straining  after  unity,  she  has  at 
last  succeeded  in  reaching  the  longed-for  goal.  Un- 
happily, union  has  not  come  as  the  fruit  of  her  own 
efforts,  but  has  been  conferred  upon  her  by  the  victories 
of  France  and  Prussia  over  the  Austrians  in  1859  and 
in  1866  respectively.  When  a  nation  has  won  its  own 
independence  by  the  expenditure  of  its  own  energies 
and  at  the  cost  of  its  own  blood,  it  receives  an  incal- 
culable stimulus  to  further  progress.  We  have  seen 
what  was  the  effect  upon  Athens  of  her  triumphant 
issue  from  the  wrestle  for  life  or  death  against  the  over- 
whelming might  of  Persia.  ~No  sooner  had  she  come 
off  victorious,  than  she  rose  at  one  bound  to  the  zenith 
of  her  intellectual  and  political  glory.  Two  thousand 
years  later  history  repeats  itself.  The  crushing  defeat 
of  Philip  IT.,  and  the  destruction  of  his  "  invincible  " 
Armada,  is  for  England  the  opening  of  her  career  of 
fame ;  it  was  immediately  followed  by  her  golden  age 
of  letters  and  intellect.  To  return  to  Italy,  as  we  have 
said,  her  independence  was  not  her  own  achievement. 
Is  it,  therefore,  a  matter  for  surprise  that  her  union  has 
not  had  as  a  sequence  that  leap  forward  in  prosperity 

176 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

which  seems  to  have  been  so  confidently  expected 
from  it? 

Moreover,  the  union  is  by  no  means  so  thorough  as 
externals  would  lead  us  to  conclude.  This  is  Italy's 
second  evil.  The  House  of  Savoy,  the  present  reign- 
ing family,  has  stripped  the  Holy  See  of  its  temporal 
dominions,  and  has  raised  up  for  itself  an  irreconcil- 
able foe  in  the  papal  Curia.  Since  Italy  is  still  almost 
exclusively  Catholic,  the  Church  has  at  its  beck  and 
call  an  immense  power  of  latent  hostility  to  the  exist- 
ing Government.  This  is  the  one  great  shadow  which 
is  cast  upon  the  otherwise  brilliant  future  of  Italy. 

No  modern  nation's  history  has  ever  exercised  such 
a  fascination  or  cast  such  a  glamour  over  the  minds  of 
men  as  has  that  of  France.  Every  volume  that  tells 
of  France's  doings  in  the  past,  and  every  fresh  batch 
of  memoires,  authentic  or  apocryphal,  is  read  with  keen 
interest  and  keen  delight  by  quite  as  many  thousands 
of  people  outside  French  frontiers  as  within.  And 
while  speaking  of  apocryphal  memoires,  is  there  any 
other  country  in  Europe  where  the  writer  of  this,  the 
most  ingenious  form  of  literary  charlatanism,  could 
ply  his  calling  to  profit  and  advantage  ?  The  throng  of 
people  in  England,  America,  and  Germany  whose  lot 
it  is  to  earn  their  bread  in  the  less  exalted  branches 
of  letters,  know  well  how  great  their  debt  of  gratitude 
is  to  French  authors  who  keep  them  busy  with  an  un- 
failing supply  of  translating  and  re-editing  to  do.  In 
no  other  country,  certainly,  do  the  rights  of  translation 
find  so  ready  a  market.     But  we  need  hardly  insist 

12  177 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

upon  a  fact  which  will  so  readily  be  accorded  by  all 
as  is  the  popularity  of  the  history  of  France.  When 
Archduke  Charles  of  Austria,  the  great  adversary  of 
Napoleon,  once  said  (it  will  be  found  in  his  memoires) 
that  he  took  no  interest  in  any  history  but  that  of 
France,  if  he  cannot  be  said  exactly  to  have  been  talk- 
ing platitudes,  he  was  at  least  repeating  what  had  been 
said  countless  times  before,  and  what  has  been  the 
unspoken  thought  of  very  many  others  after  him.  We 
shall  make  some  endeavor  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the 
wonderful  charm  pervading  French  history.  It  is  a 
charm,  however,  which  is  anything  but  confined  to  his- 
tory. It  will  not  be  difficult  to  prove  that  it  is  neither 
unjustified  nor  unnatural.  Surely,  when  we  institute 
a  comparison,  the  annals  of  all  other  people  seem  some- 
what one-sided;  they  rarely  speak  of  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  people.  In  France  history  has  been  made 
by  man  and  woman;  we  meet  countless  entrancing 
personalities  of  either  sex,  and  this  goes  no  small  way 
to  explain  the  interest  of  the  general  reader.  The 
study  of  institutions  to  him  seems  dry;  he  wishes  for 
a  history  not  only  instructive,  but  amusing,  and  in 
which  he  can  still  feel  the  pulses  of  human  life.  And 
this  he  finds  pre-eminently  in  France. 

But  this  explanation,  much  as  it  doubtless  contains 
of  truth,  is  not  entirely  satisfying;  it  will  not  tell  us 
why  people  took  so  keen  a  delight  in  all  that  hailed 
from  France  long  before  France  had  got  any  very  long 
tale  of  history  to  boast.  Dante,  at  the  dawn  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  tells  us  that  French  dress,  French 

178 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

manners,  French  customs,  were  everywhere  the  fashion 
of  the  day.     French  was  spoken  by  everybody,  and 
ever  since,  though  it  has  become  modified  into  some- 
thing very  different,  the  French  language  has  been 
spoken  widely  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other. 
In  olden  days  it  was  a  language  of  deep,  sonorous 
melody;  but  we  will  speak  more  of  its  present-day 
qualities.     It  still  has  elegance  of  tone  and  clean-cut 
form,  but  it  is  more  to  its,  may  we  say,  psychological 
excellencies  than  to  its  physical  good  points  that  it  owes 
its  pre-eminence.     Its  diplomatic  use  may  recall  the 
days  when  French  influence,  the  influence  of  Louis 
XIV.,  was  paramount  in  Europe;  but  its  survival 
points  to  permanent  advantages.     It  is  the  most  deli- 
cate weapon  of  diplomatic  fence;  it  is  the  foil  which 
touches,   discomfits   the   adversary  without   inflicting 
any  open  wound.     It  is  to  this  unblundering  finesse 
that  French  owes  much  of  its  popularity ;  it  is  the  lan- 
guage of  tact,  and  the  only  tongue  which  has  developed 
to  a  fine  art  the  use  of  sous-entendu.    The  rigid  moral- 
ist may  feel  a  preference  for  the  speech  which  says 
everything  bluntly,  in  bare,  bald  nudity;  but  it  is  a 
speech  which  will,  perhaps,  leave  him  a  few  times  too 
often  in  awkward  predicaments  in  life.     One  more 
proof  of  the  spread  of  French  linguistic  influence. 
German,  in  spite  of  its  modern  re-Germanization,  is 
saturated  to  the  core  with  French.     It  was  the  lan- 
guage which  Goethe  knew  as  well  as  his  own;  it  was 
the  language  in  which  Lessing  long  meditated  writ- 
ing his  Laokoon;  it  was  the  language  in  which  the 

179 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

great  German  philosopher  and  mathematician,  Leib- 
niz, did  compose  his  famous  Theodicee.  Need  we 
add  the  well-known  example  of  Gibbon,  who  habitually 
threw  all  his  thoughts  into  form  in  French,  and  subse- 
quently turned  them  into  English. 

In  opposition  to  this  almost  universal  knowledge  of 
French  comes  the  equally  universal  ignorance  of 
France.  Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  very  great  surprise. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  nearer  the  mark  to  say  that 
France  is  not  so  much  unknown  as  misunderstood. 
Despite  external  signs  of  amity,  the  deep-rooted,  last- 
ing prejudices  against  France  are  legion.  The  hard 
things  said  of  her  are  as  the  sands  of  the  sea.  These 
misconceptions  are  not  the  result  of  envy  or  jealousy 
alone;  the  most  patriotic  Frenchman  would  not  put 
so  harsh  a  construction  upon  them.  The  truth  is  that 
France,  like  every  other  complicated  nation,  but  per- 
haps even  more  so  than  other  nations,  lends  her- 
self to  misinterpretation.  If  we  know  the  character 
of  one  Servian,  we  know  the  character  of  all  Servia. 
Not  so  with  France.  We  do  not  know  the  character 
of  France  from  the  type  of  a  single  Frenchman.  In 
the  highly  civilized  nations  there  is  a  light  and  shade 
which  is  quite  absent  among  the  smaller,  less-develop- 
ed, less-cultured  peoples.  In  France  probably  the 
scale  of  lights  and  shades  is  wider  than  anywhere  else. 
Unhappily,  the  foreigner  is,  as  a  rule,  far  more  prone 
to  see  the  shades.  To  the  foreigner,  moreover,  the 
association  of  ideas  in  which  he  has  lived  and  been 
brought  up  is  overpowering.     It  entails  the  greatest 

180 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

effort  for  him  to  enter  into  or  appreciate  other  na- 
tional ideals.  Of  the  antipathy  of  character  between 
the  Englishman  and  the  Frenchman  we  have  spoken 
before,  without  any  endeavor  to  judge  their  relative 
merits.  From  the  familiar  example  of  gestures  and 
gesticulation,  which  we  have  already  called  into  ser- 
vice, let  us  seek  to  draw  another  lesson.  Imagine  the 
associations  which  an  average  young  Englishman  has 
with  gestures.  In  every-day  life  they  are  quite  un- 
familiar to  him,  and  the  only  place  where  he  is  likely 
to  see  them  is  on  the  stage.  There  they  are  theatrical. 
From  theatrical  the  transition  to  artificial  is  almost 
imperceptible ;  and  from  artificial  his  thoughts  will  at 
once  lead  him  on  through  all  the  gamut  of  human 
shortcomings,  imperfections,  and  even  vices.  Our 
young  Englishman,  supremely  unconscious  of  the  asso- 
ciations with  which  his  mind  already  teems,  betakes 
himself  across  the  Channel,  and  the  first  young 
Frenchman  or  Frenchwoman  with  whom  he  falls  into 
talk  will  gesticulate,  and  will  consequently  be  at  once 
set  down  as  theatrical,  thence  artificial,  and  hence  we 
shudder  to  think  what. 

All  that  we  have  so  far  said  of  France  is  more  or 
less  introductory.  But  we  could  hardly  pursue  our 
subject  before  the  reader  was  forewarned  and, we  hope, 
in  some  measure  forearmed,  against  national  prejudice 
in  general  and  its  subtle  causes.  In  pursuit  of  our 
uniform  plan,  let  us  now  investigate  some  of  the  ele- 
ments upon  which  the  mainsprings  of  French  life 
depend,  and  which  are  likely  or  not  to  contribute  to 

181 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

the  future  welfare  of  France.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  do  better  than  to  begin  with  the  Frenchwoman,  the 
most  important  person  of  the  French  social  economy, 
in  which  she  certainly  ranks  before  the  man. 

This  not  being  an  anthropological  treatise,  we  are 
not  called  upon  to  go  into  the  Frenchwoman's  physical 
characteristics  in  any  detail.  There  are  beautiful 
women  in  France  as  there  are  unbeautiful;  whether 
the  average  standard  of  good  looks  is  higher  or  lower 
in  France  than  elsewhere  is  not  very  material.  We 
shall  have  something  to  say  of  the  Frenchwoman's 
peculiar  charm  later.  Let  us  now  take  her  when  she  is 
yet  a  young  girl,  and  see  by  what  steps  her  character 
is  moulded.  Outside  the  Orient,  the  French  girl  is 
the  most  secluded  of  any.  To  those  who  have  not  seen 
it,  the  almost  penitential  isolation  in  which  the  French 
girl,  up  to  the  time  of  her  marriage,  is  kept  from  the 
other  sex,  except  from  the  members  of  her  immedi- 
ate family,  is  almost  inconceivable.  To  this  seclusion 
must  be  attributed  very  largely  two  cardinal  defects, 
of  France,  one  literary,  the  other  social.  It  has  often 
been  wondered  why  French  poetry  is  sterile  in  lyrics ; 
but  is  not  the  very  fountain  of  lyric  verse  wanting? 
Are  not  modern  lyrics  inspired  by  the  social  inter- 
course of  the  young  man  with  the  young  and  innocent 
girl  ?  We  shall  not,  perhaps,  find  a  fitter  occasion  for" 
speaking  of  the  French  novel,  which  has  probably 
been  productive  of  more  misunderstanding  with  re- 
gard to  France  than  anything  else.  It  is  certainly 
the  chief  vehicle  through  which  a  knowledge,  or  rather 

182 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

pseudo-knowledge,  of  France  is  spread.     Numberless 
people  are  conversant  enough  with  French  to  read  with 
ease  this  lighter  form  of  French  literature,  but  their 
psychological  insight  is  quite  insufficient.     The  novel- 
ist in  France  is  driven  into  an  unenviable  position. 
He  is  absolutely  debarred  from  introducing  the  jeune 
fille  into  his  writings.     In  life  she  is  a  nonentity;  in 
the  novel  she  would  be  an  absurdity.     There  is  no 
subject  of  interest  on  which  to  build  a  romance  except 
the  illicit  amour  after  marriage.    The  novelist  is  com- 
pelled, in  spite  of  himself,  to  treat  life  invariably 
from  the  point  of  view  of  adultery.     By  no  other 
means  can  he  give  his  book  even  a  semblance  of  plaus- 
ibility.    The  foreign  novel-reader,  however,  leaps  at 
once  to  the  conclusion  that  his  French  author  depicts 
the  prevalent  features  of  French  married  life.     Noth- 
ing could  certainly  be  more  absurdly  untrue,  as  a  few 
months'  sojourn  in  France  would  certainly  convince 
the  most  rabid  of  Francophobes.     The  future  of  the 
French  novel  is  not  bright ;  these  limitations  which  are 
imposed  upon  its  topic  doom  it  to  monotony.     With 
whatever  grace  of  style  or  interesting  setting  the  au- 
thor may  surround  his  plot,  it  is  bound  to  revolve 
upon  the  same  unsavory  theme,  which  finally  becomes 
wearisome   in   the   extreme.      The   influence    of   the 
French  novel  is  undoubtedly  pernicious,  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly far  from  being  so  great  as  is  currently  sup- 
posed.   By  the  woman  of  France  the  novel  is  scarcely 
read :  she  has  no  time  for  it,  as  we  shall  see  when  we 
come  to  look  into  her  real  sphere  of  activity.     Let  us, 

183 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

then,  admit  that  the  French  novel  is  doomed,  owing 
to  the  social  conditions  of  France:  the  ordinary  mar- 
ried woman,  important  as  her  part  may  be  in  actual 
life,  does  not  offer  the  interest  necessary  for  a  ro- 
mance; and  in  spite  of  the  profound  thought  with 
which  a  Balzac  may  enwrap  his  theme,  or  the  brill- 
iants with  which  many  more  recent  novelists  have 
studded  their  work,  there  can  be  no  permanent  suc- 
cess. The  French  may  remain  the  most  dazzling  of 
raconteurs;  they  will  never,  so  long  as  the  conditions 
in  which  they  live  persist,  rise  to  the  heights  of  first- 
class  novel-writing. 

Let  'us  pass  on  to  the  social  result  of  the  seclusion 
of  the  French  girl,  and  here  the  outlook  is  even  less 
promising.  We  shall  find,  later,  much  which  compen- 
sates for  the  deleterious  effect  exercised  upon  the 
character  of  the  young  men  of  France  by  their  com- 
plete severance  from  the  respectable  portion  of  the 
other  sex.  It  is  this  isolation  which  has  given  rise  to 
the  great  bane  of  France,  the  demi-monde  and  the 
grisette,  though  the  latter  name  is  somewhat  out  of 
fashion.  Of  course,  when  viewed  through  foreign 
glasses,  this  side  of  French  life  is  also  liable  to  be  set 
down  as  another  feature  of  general  moral  depravity. 
But  we  must  always  be  on  our  guard  against  moral 
generalizations.  The  attitude  of  the  shocked  and  in- 
dignant moralist  is  not  conducive  to  a  real  insight 
into  the  truth.  This  characteristic  of  France  is  a 
necessary  consequence  and  concomitant  of  the  other 
social  institutions  of  the  country.    The  strict  seclusion 

184 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

in  which  the  French  girl  is  held  before  marriage,  al- 
though, on  the  one  hand,  it  is  the  prime  cause  of  the 
virtue,  the  energy,  and  restless  industry  of  the  married 
Frenchwoman,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  undeniable 
that  it  is  the  indirect  prime  cause  of  many  of  the  objec- 
tionable social  habits  of  French  young  men  and  their 
declassees  mates.  For  this  is  the  great  principle  of  all 
sociology,  that  for  institutions  making  for  ideals,  such 
as  virtue,  order,  national  glory,  etc.,  we  must  invari- 
ably pay  heavy  prices.  So  far,  at  any  rate,  those 
ideals  have  never  been  realized  without  very  grave 
drawbacks  in  another  direction.  The  Athenian  was  a 
glorious  specimen  of  mankind;  but  he  was  possible 
only  on  a  pedestal  of  downtrodden  slaves.  So  it  is 
with  every  nation;  and  it  is  only  the  conventional 
hypocrisy  or  ignorance  that  disguises  or  misses  the 
fact  of  the  melancholy  interdependence  between  ideals 
and  the  penalties  paid  for  them. 

It  is  out  of  this  captivity  of  years  that  the  French 
girl  emerges  the  French  woman.  She  has  the  charac- 
ter which  will  carry  her  through  the  numberless  diffi- 
culties, the  numberless  deprivations,  the  innumerable 
self-abnegations,  with  which  her  path  is  strewn.  Her 
character  has  been  bought  with  a  Spartan  training  in 
her  youth.  We  have  seen  the  cost  at  which  English 
will-power  and  English  virility  are  purchased.  From 
the  age  of  ten,  by  the  systematic  suppression  of  youth 
and  gayety,  by  the  equally  searching  test  of  a  preco- 
cious responsibility,  the  English  boy  at  eighteen  has  be- 
come a  volitional  athlete,  without  peer  in  Continental 

185 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Europe.  He  can  be,  and  frequently  is,  entrusted  with 
positions  of  confidence  and  responsibility  at  an  age 
when  the  Frenchman  is  certainly  still  in  parental 
leading-strings.  The  English  boy  has  his  complement, 
his  counterpart,  in  the  French  girl,  whose  training  on 
her  side  is  equally  searching,  thorough,  and  severe. 
The  physical  discipline  of  old-time  Sparta  was  noth- 
ing to  the  moral  drill  of  the  French  girl.  According 
to  the  unshakable  principle  laid  down  a  few  lines 
above,  French  womanhood  is  bought  at  the  price  of 
French  girlhood.  When  she  emerges  from  her  seclu- 
sion she  has  all  the  high-strung,  braced-up  energies 
which  enable  her  to  fill  her  position  in  the  home. 
People  who  have  only  seen  England  and  America  can 
with  difficulty  realize  how  thoroughly  the  French- 
woman pervades  every  detail  of  family  life.  Noth- 
ing is  done  without  her  counsel  and  consent.  In  busi- 
ness she  has  her  say,  and  many  of  the  great  commer- 
cial houses  trace  their  descent  in  the  feminine  line* 
It  is  the  Frenchwoman  who  rules  from  the  caisse,  who 
keeps  the  books,  who  sees  the  travellers,  etc.  She 
realizes  to  the  full  her  importance  in  her  world ;  how 
much  her  influence  may  achieve  and  contribute  to  the 
family  advancement.  Her  amiability  will  secure  her 
friends,  and  she  knows  the  value  of  friends.  May  not 
any  stranger  contain  potential  utility?  Nothing,  at 
all  events,  is  lost  if  you  secure  his  good  feeling.  Her 
good  nature,  which  has  become  her  second  nature, 
rather  her  only  nature,  has  its  origin  in  the  most 
logical,  the  most  long-headed,  and  practical  reasons. 

186 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

We  do  not  wish  to  imply  it  is  interested  and  self-seek- 
ing ;  it  has  so  long  ago  become  part  of  her  being,  that 
the  origins  are  dimmed  and  forgotten.  But  the  great 
element  of  her  charm  is  in  her  righteous  self-respect. 
Those  who  would  wish  for  a  tangible  concrete  proof 
of  the  Frenchwoman's  supreme  importance,  should  re- 
member one  striking  feature  of  French  cities,  at  least 
to  the  foreign  idea.  The  frequency  with  which  in 
shop  signs  the  names  of  husband  and  wife  are  coupled 
together,  the  common  occurrence  of  widows'  names  in 
the  same  way,  and  many  other  familiar  examples. 

To  pass  on  to  the  Frenchman,  we  have  seen  to  what 
perils  his  youth  is  exposed,  owing  to  his  complete  ab- 
sorption by  his  family ;  he  is  even  more  likely  to  fall 
a  ready  victim  to  temptation,  owing  to  the  compara- 
tive dependence  in  which  his  boyhood  and  early  man- 
hood are  passed.  We  have  seen  that  the  education  of 
his  character  and  will-power  is  really  neglected,  and 
he  is  kept  in  a  state  of  tutelage,  which,  to  the  English 
boy,  would  savor  too  much  of  "  bemothering."  He  is 
then  suddenly  given  over  to  his  own  devices,  often  with 
disastrous  results.  We  have  examples,  which  are 
hardly  exaggerated,  in  the  classical  works  of  Sapho 
and  La  Dame  aux  Camelias.  From  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  will,  in  the  generality  of  cases,  be  sub- 
jected to  a  course  of  severe  discipline,  this  time  in  the 
army;  and  we  shall  not  again  have  an  opportunity  of 
judging  to  what  extent  his  character  has  been  formed 
until  he  has  completed  his  period  of  conscription, 
formerly  three,  now,  eventually,  two  years.    It  is  im- 

187 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

probable  that  he  will  have  attained  his  complete  moral 
development  before  the  age  of  thirty.  At  that  age,  or 
soon  after,  he  will  afford  the  rare  spectacle  of  a  man 
with  all  the  pluck  and  energy  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  associate  with  British  youth,  and  yet  retaining  the 
cheerfulness  of  disposition  of  boyhood.  He  is  in  the 
position  of  one  who  has  had  his  fling,  and  is  now  ready  • 
to  settle  down  to  the  sober  realities  of  existence.  It  is 
probable,  if  statistics  may  be  taken  as  a  criterion,  that 
he  has  more  stamina  and  resisting  power,  as  the  rate  of 
mortality  in  France,  between  the  ages  of  fifty  and 
sixty,  is  considerably  lower  than  in  either  England  or 
Germany. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  nervous  and  fidgety  tem- 
perament of  the  French;  it  is  a  superficial  judgment 
which  assigns  them  such  a  nature.  Apart  from  his 
more  or  less  artistic  style  of  conversation,  there  are 
probably  few  more  matter-of-fact  men  than  the  French- 
man. He  carries  reasoning  into  many  more  branches 
of  actual  life  than  is  usually  the  case  among  other 
nations.  Seldom  does  his  eye  lose  sight  of  the  main 
chance.  Reasoning  in  France  has  been  carried  into 
the  arrangement  of  marriage;  and  reason  is  every- 
where. It  is  no  doubt  due  in  a  great  part  to  this  ex- 
aggerated love  of  cold  reasoning,  and  traditional  sys- 
tematization  of  everything,  that  there  are  few  openings 
in  French  commercial  or  public  life  for  the  free  lance. 
There  are  few  Frenchmen  in  France  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  a  single  lifetime  as  the  result  of  their  own 
unaided  energies.     The  idea  of  French  nervousness 

188 


SUCCESS   AMONG   LATIN   NATIONS 

has  no  doubt  principally  arisen  from  a  wrong  inter- 
pretation of  the  vicissitudes  of  French  public  life  and 
political  history.  It  is  drawn  in  no  small  part  from 
the  spectacle  of  rapidly  succeeding  French  Cabinets 
and  Parliaments.  But  it  would  be  only  just  to  re- 
member that  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies  is  an 
institution  of  far  less  consequence  than  the  English 
Lower  House.  We  must  look  for  the  real  battle  of 
French  government  in  the  bureaucratic  administra- 
tion, than  which  nothing  could  be  more  sober  and  less 
nervous.  French  nerves  are,  doubtless,  less  steady 
since  the  humiliation  of  1871,  and,  like  all  people 
humbled  by  defeat,  they  are  somewhat  demoralized. 
Consider  what  would  be  the  state  of  the  English  mind 
if  Dover  and  Kent  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans 
and  being  rapidly  Teutonized. 

But  what  is  least  realized  in  France  by  the  casual 
stranger  is  her  immense  wealth.  It  has  long  been  well 
known  to  the  economist  and  the  statistician  that  France 
is  the  richest  country  in  Europe,  but  to  the  general 
public  her  wealth  seems  incredible,  and  chiefly  for  the 
reason  that  it  leads  to  very  little  outward  display.  It 
requires,  for  example,  a  very  keen  insight  into  the 
workings  of  French  social  manners  and  customs  to 
enable  you  to  assign  the  inhabitants,  say,  of  a  small 
provincial  town  to  their  respective  places  in  the  scale 
of  wealth.  The  accumulation  of  riches  does  not  draw 
in  its  train  all  those  differences  in  the  way  of  life,  in 
dress  and  social  position,  which  we  are  wont  to  associ- 
ate with  it  in  England.     Enter  the  principal  cafe  of 

189 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

some  departmental  capital  and  watch  those  two  men 
playing  billiards,  and  who  appear  to  be  on  a  footing 
of  perfect  familiarity  one  towards  another;  you  would 
hardly  guess,  for  there  is  certainly  no  distinction  of 
attire,  that  the  one  is  living  on  his  income  of  some 
£4000  a  year,  the  other  is  still  a  struggling  chemist 
in  the  town.  It  is  wonderful,  too,  how  much  opulence 
very  often  lies  hidden,  almost  unsuspected,  under  the 
apparently  humble  externals  of  the  ordinary  trades- 
man. When  he  has  laid  by  a  pile,  on  which  the  Eng- 
lish tradesman  would  certainly  consider  himself  justi- 
fied in  retiring,  the  Frenchman  still  clings  to  business. 
Although  his  every-day  expenses  are  very  probably 
less,  he  has,  as  a  rule,  far  heavier  drains  on  his  purse. 
Each  of  his  daughters  will  claim  a  handsome  dowry  if 
she  is  to  be  married  well,  and  these  dowries  must  be 
paid  without  impoverishing  the  business;  a  course 
which  would  entail  an  injury  to  the  prospects  of  his 
son.  It  is  obvious  that  the  Frenchman  has  very  good 
reasons  for  sticking  to  his  shop,  and  these  reasons  are 
reinforced  by  two  points  in  his  character,  which  are 
essentially  French.  In  no  country  is  the  passion  for 
hoarding  money  developed  to  such  a  degree  as  it  is  in 
France.  The  bounds  of  praiseworthy  thrift  and  econ- 
omy are  too  often  left  behind,  and  the  passion  for  sav- 
ing grows  into  miserly  avarice.  Herein  the  French 
suffer  from  the  defects  of  their  good  qualities.  The 
thrift  of  France  is  known  all  the  world  over.  Pauper- 
dom  in  France  has  been  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible 
minimum,  while  most  of  the  tradesmen  have  two  or 

190 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

three  lines  of  financial  defence  behind  which  to  retire 
in  case  of  business  reverses.  To  come,  however,  to  the 
second  point  in  his  character  which  keeps  the  French 
shopkeeper  to  his  counter.  In  retiring  he  sees  no 
prospect  of  greatly  modifying  his  social  standing,  nor 
has  he  any  desire  so  to  do.  The  retailer  in  France  has 
no  feeling  of  dishonor  in  belonging  to  his  allotted 
station  in  life.  Small  trading  leaves  no  slur,  and  he 
does  not  feel  any  passion  for  disassociating  himself 
with  anything  suggestive  of  the  shop.  Shopkeeper  he 
is,  and  shopkeeper  he  is  proud  to  be  and  to  have  been. 
His  calling  has  given  him  a  self-respect  which  a 
similar  calling  could  not  give  in  every  country  of 
Europe. 

Here  we  have  struck  the  keynote  of  French  private 
life.  No  country  of  Europe  has  been  so  thoroughly  de- 
mediawalized  as  France.  The  barriers  of  class  and 
caste  have  been  levelled  to  the  uttermost,  and  though 
these  barriers  still  subsist,  as  they  must,  there  is  noth- 
ing in  them  that  is  galling  or  preventive  of  a  thor- 
oughly good  understanding  through  all  ranks  of  soci- 
ety. There  is  no  straining  of  one  class  to  enter  an- 
other, and  consequently  very  little  of  that  sense  of 
discomfort  which  arises  from  false  position.  Very 
few  men  in  France  find  it  desirable  to  conceal  their 
social  origin.  They  are  fully  conscious  of  the  position 
in  life  they  have  been  born  in,  and  are  well  pleased 
with  it. 

We  have  been  induced  somewhat  to  digress.  A  few 
striking  examples  of  the  almost  fabulous  wealth  of 

191 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

France,  and  we  will  pass  on  to  discuss  her  political 
prospects.  Peasant  dowries  ranging  between  10,000 
and  50,000  francs  are  anything  but  uncommon,  and 
as  we  rise  in  the  social  scale,  so  the  figures  rise.  The 
statistical  returns  of  moneys  devolving  by  inheritance 
show  a  total  for  France  nearly  thirty  times  as  great  as 
those  for  England,  Austria,  or  Germany.  It  is  not 
uncommon  in  England  to  receive  money  by  legacy ;  in 
Hungary  the  legacy  has  become  so  fabulous  as  to  be  the 
stock  subject  for  jokes  and  pleasantries ;  but  in  France 
the  acquisition  of  riches  by  bequest  is  so  common  as  to 
be  almost  the  rule.  In  no  other  country  could  the 
famous  Humbert  frauds  have  gained  credence  for  a 
moment ;  in  France  the  huge  heritage  of  the  "  Craw- 
fords  "  was  not  extraordinary  enough  to  excite  very 
critical  comment.  The  success  of  this  giant  escamotage 
was  due  less  to  the  personal  genius  of  that  arch-swin- 
dler Therese  Humbert,  than  to  the  social  conditions  of 
the  land  in  which  she  had  the  astuteness  to  lay  her 
plans.  It  is  probable  that  no  other  country  save 
France  could  have  paid,  with  so  little  difficulty,  the 
immense  indemnity  exacted  by  Germany  after  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1870-71.  Germany  herself  thought 
that  France  would  be  crippled  for  years  to  come  by 
the  payment  of  £200,000,000  ($1,000,000,000).  It 
is  well  known  with  what  astounding  rapidity  France 
discharged  the  debt,  and  how  quickly  her  finances  re- 
covered afterwards;  but  it  is  not  always  remembered 
that  the  French  losses  during  the  period  of  actual 
warfare    cannot    well    be    estimated    at    less    than 

192 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

£1,000,000,000  ($5,000,000,000);  yet  a  few  years 
later  France  was  already  on  the  save,  and  any  munici- 
pal corporation  requiring  loans  for  public  works  and 
improvements  was  able  to  obtain  them  at  a  very 
moderate  rate  of  interest. 

It  is  anything  but  uncommon  to  hear  France  classed 
among  the  decadent  nations  of  Europe ;  but  even  when 
apparently  unmistakable  symptoms  of  decay  can  be 
observed  in  a  people,  it  is  very  rash  to  predict  its  ap- 
proaching downfall  and  dissolution.  Such  predic- 
tions have  almost  invariably  fallen  very  wide  of  the 
truth.  We  have  only  to  go  back  a  century  and  a  quar- 
ter, to  the  days  when  England  had  just  come  out  of  her 
fruitless  struggle  to  crush  the  revolt  of  her  American 
colonists  (1783),  to  see  how  the  confident  prophecies 
of  her  political  opponents,  that  she  would  no  longer  be 
capable  of  interfering  in  European  affairs,  were  ter- 
ribly disappointed.  The  Courts  of  the  Continent 
made  haste  to  chant  the  dirge  of  English  greatness, 
little  dreaming  that  after  the  lapse  of  but  a  few  brief 
years  England  resurgent  would  become  one  of  the 
arbiters  of  their  own  fortunes.  She  refused  to  be  rele- 
gated to  the  position  of  a  second-rate  Holland,  but  by 
1798  had  so  far  restored  her  shattered  navy  as  to  be 
able  to  secure,  by  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  the  maritime 
ascendancy  which  she  had  struggled  through  more  than 
a  century  to  win.  This  is  the  era  of  England's  domi- 
nant sea-power, for  in  the  Seven  Years'  War  (1750-63) 
she  had  not  done  more  than  hold  her  own,  while  from 
1775  to  1783  her  fleet  was  defeated  time  after  time, 

is  193 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

and  England  owed  her  safety  at  home  only  to  the  un- 
readiness of  the  Spanish  and  French. 

England,  by  the  time  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  had 
long  ago  given  up  all  idea  of  territorial  acquisitions 
on  the  Continental  mainland.  But  the  possession  of 
an  overwhelming  fleet  and  superabundant  capital  per- 
mitted her  to  interfere  with  the  greatest  effect  in  Con- 
tinental affairs,  and  the  side  on  which  she  chose  to  fight, 
or  which  she  thought  fit  to  subsidize,  was  pretty  safe  to 
come  off  with  flying  colors. 

We  have  been  led  into  this  momentary  digression  in 
order  the  better  to  show  the  position  of  contemporary 
France,  which  has  almost,  so  to  speak,  stepped  into  the 
shoes  in  which  England  stood  a  hundred  years  back. 
If  England  reaped  advantages  from  her  insulated 
position,  France's  position  on  the  Continent  to-day  is 
one  of  political  insulation.  She  is  the  country  which 
can  afford  to  subsidize  her  friends ;  and  her  army,  prob- 
ably the  most  effective  in  Europe,  with  the  second 
navy  of  the  world,  makes  her  a  coveted  ally.  She  has 
the  advantage  of  having  no  hankering  after  territorial 
aggrandizement,  her  desires  being  limited  to  the  re- 
covery of  the  Rhine  frontier  and  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
and  her  lost  prestige.  Her  Continental  neighbors  are 
not  so  unambitious,  and  Germany  is  still  credited  with 
the  wish  to  regain  the  German-speaking  Russian  prov- 
inces of  Livland  and  Courland,  and  to  absorb  the 
Teutonic  part  of  Austria.  When  the  day  of  conflict 
comes,  France  will  sit  astride  the  balance,  which  she 
will  be  able  to  incline  one  way  or  another,  as  best  suits 

194 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

her  ends.  We  must  not  give  too  willing  credence  to 
the  propaganda  of  the  francs-magons  and  others,  who 
now  hold  a  high  position  in  France,  and  foretell  an 
era  of  peace  for  France,  during  which  she  will  be  the 
ville  lumiere,  whence  shall  radiate  art  and  civilization. 
It  is  a  fair  ideal,  hut  one  which  would  cost  too  dear. 
Such  a  torch  would  consume  five  hundred  thousand 
lives  a  day,  and  would  serve  but  to  cast  a  lurid  glow 
upon  the  death  agonies  of  France.  The  peacefulness 
of  France  is  but  surface  deep,  and  she  only  awaits  an 
occasion  to  avenge  the  disgrace  of  the  war  of  '70.  She 
has  obeyed  the  behest  of  Gambetta,  "  Wen  parler  ja- 
mais, y  penser  iou jours." 

Nothing  can  be  of  greater  service  to  a  nation  than  a 
true  sense  of  its  own  value,  a  true  sense  of  proportion, 
even  if  dearly  purchased.  The  disasters  of  I'annee 
terrible  had  a  sobering  effect  upon  France  which  can- 
not fail  to  prove  highly  beneficial.  Before  1870  the 
French  had  reached  a  most  injurious  degree  of  self- 
satisfaction.  France  was  not  only  a  great  nation,  but 
la  grande  nation,  the  other  great  Powers  of  Europe 
being  reckoned  as  of  little  importance.  France  now 
knows  that  there  are  other  nations  in  Europe,  that  it 
is  well  for  her  to  be  ever  on  her  guard  against  them, 
and  that  she  cannot  afford  to  trust  to  an  inflated  repu- 
tation. 

One  of  the  greatest  assets  of  France,  however,  is  her 
wonderful  homogeneity.  She  is  much  more  united  and 
consolidated  than  any  other  European  country,  but  the 
provinces,  although  thoroughly  merged  in  a  national 

195 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

whole,  still  preserve  to  a  great  extent  their  individual 
types.  To  speak  of  a  Bourguignon,  or  a  Picard,  or  a 
Gascon,  is  not  only  to  give  a  man  a  distinct  geograph- 
ical position ;  it  is  also  to  describe  his  character. 

The  Republic,  much  as  it  may  be  abused,  was  a 
powerful  agent  of  French  success,  as  it  has  proved  by 
surviving  longer  than  any  other  form  of  government 
since  the  ancien  regime  was  thrown  down.  It  is,  after 
all,  the  natural  form  of  government  for  a  country  so 
homogeneous  as  Trance,  just  as  royalty  is  the  neces- 
sary adjunct  of  a  land  which  is  much  divided  by  hete- 
rogeneous forces.  In  such  a  country,  for  instance,  as 
Austria,  the  throne  forms  the  one  rallying-point  of 
innumerable  discordant  elements.  Where  the  bond  of 
royalty  is  so  all-important,  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
line  of  succession  will  be  carefully  maintained,  no 
matter  what  the  qualities  or  the  defects  of  the  particu- 
lar monarch.  But  where  a  republic  is  at  all  feasible, 
it  certainly  confers  manifold  benefits.  The  decease  or 
incapability  of  the  ruler  in  a  monarchical  or  imperial 
country  may  be  productive  of  the  direst  consequences ; 
in  a  republic  it  is  always  possible  to  have  a  capable 
man  at  the  helm,  and  if  he  be  tried  and  found  wanting, 
he  can  be  readily  replaced. 

It  has  long  been  customary  to  regard  the  French 
colonial  empire  as  more  or  less  a  failure;  it  should, 
however,  not  be  forgotten  that  it  embraces  many  of  the 
richest  portions  of  the  globe,  and  would  prove  an 
immense  source  of  capital  in  the  event  of  European 
war.     The  African  colonies  have  the  additional  ad- 

196 


SUCCESS   AMONG  LATIN   NATIONS 

vantage  of  being  within  a  few  hours'  steam  of  the 
mother-country. 

The  late  policy  of  France  with  regard  to  the  Holy 
See  has  done  much  to  nullify  the  sapping  influence  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  France,  and  to  rid  the  French 
of  the  one  discordant  element  within  their  frontiers. 

With  so  many  points  to  favor  her,  we  can  hardly 
doubt  that  France  lias  the  greatest  chances  of  future 
success. 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

The  Slav  nations,  Poland  and  especially  Russia.  Power  of 
Russia  very  much  overrated.  History  never  goes  by  num- 
bers, as  do  Parliaments.  Has  at  the  present,  and  will  have 
for  generations  to  come,  neither  wealth  material  nor  wealth 
intellectual  or  volitional.  Gravitates,  since  1702,  exclusively 
towards  Asia.  Panslavism  is  no  danger  whatever  to  Europe. 
Russia,  moreover,  cankered  by  her  Greek  Church. 

It  has  become  customary  of  late  years  to  look  upon 
the  Slav  as  something  so  essentially  extra-European, 
that  it  comes  almost  as  a  shock  when,  upon  examining 
him  more  closely,  we  discover  that  he  is,  after  all,  but 
part  and  parcel  of  the  same  family  to  which  the 
majority  of  European  nations  appertain.  In  his  lan- 
guage there  is  really  nothing  strange  to  the  Western 
ear,  and  the  student  accustomed  to  looking  at  various 
tongues  from  a  philological  point  of  view  is  imme- 
diately struck  by  the  close  relationship  evident  be- 
tween the  numerous  Slavonic  languages  and  other 
branches  of  the  Indo-European  stock.  Familiar 
sounds  and  words  at  once  strike  his  ear,  and  he  is  de- 
lighted at  recognizing,  under  a  very  thin  veil  of  dis- 
guise, verbal  terminations  and  inflexions  already  fa- 
miliar to  him  through  Latin  and  Greek.  If  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Slav  is  not  foreign  to  us,  even  less  so  are 

198 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

his  physical  characteristics.  We  meet  with  the  same 
fair  hair,  the  same  fresh  complexion,  the  same  clear, 
light-blue  eyes  which  we  have  been  wont  to  set  down 
as  peculiarly  Teutonic,  and  by  the  time  we  have  made 
out  all  these  features  of  similitude  a  great  deal  of  the 
original  feeling  of  strangeness  has  worn  off,  and  we 
are  prepared,  as  far  as  externals  go,  to  accept  the  Slav 
for  our  kinsman.  When  we  have  learned  a  little 
more  of  the  working  of  his  soul,  perhaps  we  shall  not 
have  quite  such  a  brotherly  feeling  towards  him. 

For  over  a  thousand  years  the  Slav,  under  varying 
styles  and  titles,  has  peopled  the  whole  of  Europe  east 
of  the  Elbe  River.  A  very  great  proportion  of  that 
country  he  may  very  well  look  upon  as  quite  his  own ; 
over  the  rest  he  forms  a  very  considerable  percentage 
of  the  population.  All  about  the  central  and  lower 
Danubian  basin  he  is  scattered  especially  thick,  and 
forms  decidedly  the  preponderant  element. 

In  point  of  language  the  Slav  falls  into  three  natural 
divisions,  the  Southern,  the  Central,  and  the  Northern. 
In  character  he  displays  very  slight  diversity,  and  the 
Slav  from  the  extreme  south  would  on  most  subjects 
find  himself  in  complete  sentimental  harmony  with 
his  northern  brother.  His  chief  feature  is  an  over- 
sensitive, frequently  over-sentimental,  mind,  easily 
prone  to  rhapsodic  vagaries,  alternating  with  fits  of 
the  profoundest  melancholy.  Much  of  this  is  reflected 
in  Slav  music,  and  nothing  can  equal  the  inexpressible 
depths  of  despondency  of  some  of  their  folk-songs  in 
the  minor  key.     From  these  crises  of  despair  they 

199 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

burst,  without  the  slightest  warning,  into  the  most  ex- 
travagant hallali.  For  the  rest  of  his  character,  the 
Slav  is  stamped  rather  with  subtlety  and  cunning  than 
with  real  intelligence.  He  seems  to  prefer  attaining 
his  end  by  ruse  and  craft  rather  than  by  open  and 
straightforward  means.  The  same  inequality,  the 
same  unevenness,  the  same  extremes  which  character- 
ize the  emotions  of  the  Slav  have  also  set  their  mark 
upon  his  education.  If  he  is  of  the  upper  class,  be  he 
Russian,  Pole,  Servian,  or  Bulgarian,  we  shall  find 
him  over-educated.  His  mind  is  overloaded  with  in- 
struction, and  this  defect  is  shared  even  by  the  women, 
who  devote  themselves  with  enthusiasm  to  study,  and 
often  take  up  a  prominent  position  in  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. The  number  of  women  doctors  who  are 
Polish  and  Russian  is  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
nationality. 

In  his  intellectual  pursuits  the  Slav  enjoys  the 
advantage  of  being  an  excellent  linguist,  and  here  we 
may  be  pardoned  a  momentary  digression.  It  has  fre- 
quently been  supposed  that  the  Slav  owes  his  talent 
for  languages  in  no  small  part  to  the  difficulties  with 
which  his  own  tongue  bristles.  This  theory  is  dis- 
tinctly erroneous.  No  Slav  language  can  be  difficult. 
It  is  only  the  old  languages,  which  have  for  centuries 
been  the  vehicles  for  every  kind  of  thought,  that  can 
finally  attain  that  degree  of  subtlety  and  finesse  whicli 
renders  English,  German,  and  French  especially,  so  ex- 
ceedingly difficult.  A  language  which  has  never,  or 
has  only  for  some  few  decades,  been  a  literary  medium, 

200 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

must  inevitably  be  exceedingly  simple.  Extensive 
vocabulary  Slav  languages  may  boast,  but  this  is  the 
criterion  of  linguistic  poverty.  French  and  Greek, 
probably  the  most  perfect  instruments  of  human 
thought,  are  comparatively  indigent  in  word-forms. 
Whence  the  Slav  really  draws  his  linguistic  talent  is 
from  his  polyglot  surroundings.  In  the  events  of 
every-day  life  he  may  be  called  upon  to  employ  half  a 
dozen  independent  tongues.  His  household  will  cer- 
tainly contain  servants  speaking  several  Slav  idioms, 
and  in  Russia  he  will  very  probably  have  Tartar  do- 
mestics as  well.  French  and  German  are  essential 
to  social  intercourse,  and  the  Slav  is  absolutely  de- 
pendent on  foreign  literature  to  compensate  for  the  de- 
ficiencies of  his  own.  To  the  Slav,  therefore,  the 
knowledge  of  languages  is  an  immense  stimulus  to 
wide  reading,  and  the  necessity  of  reading  is  an  equally 
potent  motive  for  the  acquisition  of  languages.  Thus 
it  frequently  happens  that  a  Russian  is  quite  as  famil- 
iar, if  not  more  familiar,  than  we  are  ourselves,  with 
the  works  of  our  latter-day  philosophers.  It  would 
probably  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  writings  of 
Herbert  Spencer  are  quite  as  well  known  in  Russia  as 
they  are  at  home. 

But  to  return  to  our  theme.  If  the  upper  class  of 
Slav  countries  suffers  from  superabundant  intellectu- 
ality, the  lower  class  compensates  for  this  by  an  equally 
exaggerated  extent  of  ignorance.  Among  the  peasant 
class  there  is  no  intellectual  activity  whatever.  And 
here,  in  speaking  of  the  upper  and  lower  class,  we  have 

201 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

set  our  finger  on  the  great  besetting  sore  of  all  Slav 
countries.  The  country  of  the  Slav  is  no  country  in 
which  to  seek  the  mean,  either  emotional,  intellectual, 
or  social.  His  is  the  land  of  extremes.  There  is  no 
bourgeoisie  proper  in  Slav  countries. 

The  one  immense  drawback  of  the  Slav  is  that  he 
must  be  either  peasant  or  noble.  The  middle  class 
does  not  exist,  or  is  only  very  slowly  beginning  to 
exist.  As  far  as  the  great  majority  of  its  members 
are  concerned,  a  Slav  population  consists  of  an  agricul- 
tural peasantry  attached  to  the  soil.  The  peasants, 
who  have  but  lately  emerged  from  a  condition  of 
serfdom,  rarely  possess  the  freeholds  of  their  lands, 
and  have  been  little  benefited  by  the  exchange  of  a 
servile  for  a  free  position.  They  are  still  dependent 
upon  a  not  very  numerous  and  not  very  wealthy  no- 
bility, the  landholders.  Kural  life  is  the  hall-mark  of 
Slav  countries.  Urban  life  is  very  poorly  developed, 
owing  to  the  want  of  a  bourgeoisie. 

In  Slav  countries,  as  an  indigenous  bourgeoisie  does 
not  exist,  the  whole  of  the  commercial  movement  is 
monopolized  by  the  foreigner  or  by  the  Jew.  We  at 
once  see  why  the  Jewish  population  of  Europe  grav- 
itates to  the  East,  and  repressive  measures  against 
Jews  in  those  countries  can  only  result  in  the  stagna- 
tion and  paralysis  of  commerce,  unless  the  exiled  Jews 
are  immediately  replaced  by  foreigners.  Any  one  who 
has  travelled  in  North  Hungary,  where  the  social  dis- 
tinction is  between  a  Slav  peasantry  and  a  Hungarian 
landed  nobility,  cannot  fail  to  have  been  struck  by  the 

202 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

completeness  with  which  the  Jew  has  monopolized  the 
functions  of  a  middle  class.  Every  tavern  along  the 
roads  is  kept  by  an  Israelite  innkeeper.  A  glance  at 
the  map  will  suffice  to  convince  the  reader  how  sparsely 
scattered  are  the  centres  of  city  life  over  Slav  coun- 
tries, and  if  he  were  to  visit  those  centres  he  would  see 
how  widely  they  differ  from  western  European  cities 
in  the  life  which  they  harbor. 

The  Slavs  of  the  south  are  split  up  into  several 
small  kingdoms  and  principalities,  and  of  them  we 
shall  not  speak  at  length.  The  role  they  play  in  mod- 
ern Europe  is  of  very  second-rate  importance.  It  is 
of  the  two  great  groups  of  the  north  that  we  shall 
have  most  to  say — Poland  and  Kussia.  The  Poles 
have  always  occupied  a  large  position  in  European 
interest  and  sympathies,  ever  since  the  tragic  end 
which  befell  their  political  liberty,  now  over  a  century 
ago.  We  shall  not  here  trouble  the  reader  with  a 
recapitulation  of  the  history  of  the  years  from  1772 
to  1795,  which  ended  in  Poland's  extinction  as  an 
independent  Power,  and  in  the  partition  of  the  ancient 
kingdom  between  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia.  Dur- 
ing the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  Poland 
was  still  a  mighty  and  imposing  monarchy.  The 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  yet  acknowledged  the  King  of 
Poland  as  his  suzerain.  But  in  consequence  of  vices 
in  the  national  character,  fatal  diplomatic  mistakes, 
and  an  absolutely  erroneous  political  strategy,  Poland 
was,  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  reduced 
to  such  a  state  of  internal  anarchy  as  to  fall  an  easy 

203 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

prey  to  the  three  neighboring  monarchies.  These 
diplomatic  and  political  errors  are  at  present  beyond 
our  subject,  but  it  is  of  great  importance  that  we 
should  note  several  of  the  national  shortcomings,  and 
the  fundamental  mistakes  of  Polish  society,  which  con- 
tributed no  small  part  to  the  undoing  of  the  country. 

The  whole  of  the  civic  rights  were  in  the  hands  of 
a  very  few  noblemen,  while  the  whole  mass  of  the 
peasantry,  numbering  over  twelve  millions,  was  abso- 
lutely excluded  from  all  participation  in  political 
liberty.  As  in  all  Slav  countries  a  bourgeoisie  proper 
did  not  exist,  its  place  being  taken  by  either  foreigners 
or  Jews,  neither  of  which  classes  could  reasonably  be 
expected  to  feel  any  patriotic  interest  in  preserving  the 
integrity  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  upon  a  strong  middle 
class  that  a  country  must  rely  for  its  preservation  in 
a  moment  of  national  peril.  The  peasants,  on  the 
whole,  in  a  state  of  miserable  semi-servitude,  were 
unlikely  to  rise  in  defence  of  the  country.  It  made 
but  small  difference  to  them  which  way  things  went. 
All  that  they  could  look  forward  to  was  a  change  of 
masters,  which  could  not  for  them  result  in  anything 
much  worse  than  their  actual  condition.  The  national 
defence,  therefore,  devolved  almost  entirely  upon  the 
nobility,  and  what  could  a  handful  of  fifty  to  sixty 
thousand  men  accomplish  in  the  face  of  incomparably 
more  powerful  and  resourceful  foes  ?  Poland's  event- 
ual fate,  were  she  left  isolated,  was  a  foregone  con- 
clusion with  the  partitioning  Powers. 

But  of  all  Poland's  shortcomings,  the  greatest  is  her 
204 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

woman.  Her  appearance  is  generally  enough  to  carry- 
all before  her.  Her  beauty  is,  as  a  rule,  of  the  type 
which  the  French  have  so  expressively  called  the 
fausse  maigre;  she  has  flashing  eyes  and  very  much 
of  the  grace  of  the  women  of  France,  but  with  a  deeper 
current  of  passion.  To  set  off  her  beauty  she  has,  as 
a  rule,  a  wealth  of  brilliant  and  engaging  conversation, 
which  is  irresistible  when  it  flows  in  her  own  melodious 
language,  with  its  magnificent  cadences.  Liszt  has 
said  that  the  only  safety  from  the  sorcery  of  the 
Polish  t  (liquid  I),  as  spoken  by  a  Polish  woman,  is  in 
flight.  The  love,  the  necessity  for  intrigue,  which  is 
part  of  the  being  of  every  Slav,  is  carried  to  a  fine  art 
by  the  Polish  woman.  But  all  her  power  of  fascina- 
tion is  counterbalanced  by  an  absolute  lack  of  any 
capacity  for  her  household  duties.  She  is  not  like  the 
Frenchwoman,  who  can  be  always  charming  without 
disdaining  the  cares  and  troubles  of  her  own  menage. 
The  existence  of  the  Polish  woman  is  truly  that  of  a 
butterfly ;  never  did  a  proverbial  expression  find  a  bet- 
ter application.  She  is  brilliant,  dazzlingly  brilliant 
and  captivating  in  the  salon,  and  at  times  heroically 
brave,  even  on  the  battle-field.  But  for  the  humdrum 
existence  of  every-day,  which  nourishes  the  stamina  of 
a  nation,  she  has  no  aptitude,  no  inclination.  Her  life 
is  anything  rather  than  home  life.  She,  as  a  rule, 
talks  French  as  well  as  Polish,  and  she  did  havoc  in 
the  French  armies.  The  only  real  passion,  feminine 
passion,  to  which  Napoleon  is  known  to  have  fallen  a 
victim,  except  his  real  love  for  Josephine,  was  that 

205 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

for  Madame  Walewski,  which  kept  him  dallying  at 
Warsaw  from  December,  1806,  till  January,  1807. 
The  Polish  woman  is  capable  of  anything  in  a  moment 
of  passion,  but  is  marked  by  a  temper  of  reckless  en- 
joyment of  life  which  renders  her  unfit  for  the  worries 
of  every-day  existence. 

Even  at  the  present  day,  when  Poland  exists  no 
more,  her  women  still  remain  a  power.  Wherever 
they  are  they  make  formidable  opponents  to  the  parti- 
tioning Powers.  It  is  with  the  Kussian  as  with  the 
German.  Wherever  the  Polish  woman  enters  in,  the 
process  of  Russification  or  Germanization,  as  the  case 
may  be,  ceases,  and  a  current  of  Polonization  begins. 
Thus  it  is  that  many  of  the  East  German  villages, 
which  before  the  partition  hardly  bore  a  trace  of  Polish 
influence,  have  now  become  entirely  Polish,  and  this 
metamorphosis  has  taken  place  almost  exclusively 
through  feminine  influence.  So  extensive  has  this 
process  become  that  the  German  Chancellor  has  of 
late  declared,  and  in  no  spirit  of  exaggeration,  that 
one  of  the  most  formidable  perils  with  which  Ger- 
many's future  is  confronted  is  the  Polonization  of  her 
eastern  inhabitants,  and  even  of  the  Westphalian  min- 
ing districts  filled  with  Poles.  All  efforts,  even  those 
of  the  most  tyrannical  description,  to  keep  Polish  na- 
tionality within  bounds  on  German  soil,  have  proved 
ineffectual.  The  papers  tell  every  day  of  fresh  terror- 
izing methods  in  eastern  Pomerania,  of  Polish  riots 
rigorously  repressed;  but  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
these  disturbances  frequently  take  place  in  a  country 

206 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

which  has  only  recently  become  Polonized.  In  the 
primary  schools  of  Russian  Poland,  the  State-paid 
teachers  are  compelled  to  teach  the  Russian  National 
Anthem,  but  although  the  masters,  in  order  to  retain 
their  berths,  do  make  some  effort  to  execute  orders, 
they  never  meet  with  any  response  upon  the  part  of 
the  Polish  children.  In  Germany  the  same  thing  takes 
place,  and  from  there  we  hear  of  persecutions  for  lese- 
majeste  against  children  hardly  in  their  teens.  All 
these  are  signs  that  the  idea  of  Polish  nationality  is 
still  green,  and  far  from  losing  ground  owing  to  the 
harsh  measures  of  the  conquerors. 

Hopeless  as  the  cause  of  Poland  may  seem  to  be, 
it  would  yet  be  rash  to  assume  that  the  famous  ex- 
clamation of  one  of  the  Polish  patriots  on  the  field  of 
Ostrolenka,  "  Finis  Polonise !"  is  really  the  final  word 
in  the  destinies  of  that  country.  Perhaps  there  is 
more  truth  in  the  refrain  of  the  great  Polish  folk-song, 
"  Poland  is  not  ended  so  long  as  we  live."  Over  a 
hundred  years  have  gone  by,  and  yet  Poland  seems  to 
have  been  rejuvenated  by  her  disasters.  The  dormant 
sense  of  nationality  is  waking  into  life,  despite  the 
drugs  and  opiates  with  which  the  partitioners  would 
like  to  prolong  the  lethargy.  This  reawakening  is  be- 
coming every  day  more  apparent.  A  new  literature 
has  arisen  in  the  days  of  captivity. 

May  we  not  even  now  look  forward  to  the  day  when 
Poland  will  confront  Germany  with  a  demand  for 
internal  independence  ?  When  she  will  claim  to  enter 
the  German  Confederation  on  a  footing  of  equality, 

207 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

with  her  internal  institutions  swept  clean  of  Teutonic 
influence?  Poland  will,  perhaps,  some  day  take  up 
towards  Germany  the  same  position  that  Hungary  has 
taken  up  towards  Austria,  and  we  may  witness  the 
formation  of  a  Polono-German  dualism,  on  the  same 
lines  as  the  present  Austro-Hungarian  dualism,  in 
which  the  union  is  only  maintained  in  external  rela- 
tions. In  politics  it  has  often  and  truly  been  said  there 
is  no  morality,  but  it  looks  very  much  as  if  there  was 
a  Nemesis  which,  sooner  or  later,  inevitably  overtakes 
the  doers  of  great  political  crimes,  and  that  Prussia, 
too,  will  not  escape  punishment  for  her  share  in  the 
partition  of  unhappy  Poland. 
^^  Russian  power  is  overrated.  But  the  exaggerated 
conception  of  the  invincible  and  resistless  might  of 
Russia  shows  no  sign  of  waning.  Although  almost 
every  historical  event  of  the  last  century  in  which 
Russia  has  had  a  hand  might  seem  to  have  been 
specially  designed  to  relieve  Europe  of  the  bugbear 
of  a  Muscovite  terror,  the  myth  of  Russia's  hostile 
intentions  towards  the  West,  and  of  her  capacity  for 
carrying  her  inimical  designs  into  execution,  has  been 
steadily  gaining  ground.  Its  origin  has  been  attrib- 
uted to  Napoleon,  who  is  represented  to  have  said  that 
within  fifty  years  from  his  time  the  whole  of  Europe 
would  be  Republican  or  Muscovite.  Very  possibly 
the  dictum  may  be  apocryphal ;  we  are  not  concerned 
with  proving  its  authenticity.  All  we  would  wish  to 
indicate  is  that  the  idea  had  already  gained  currency 
during  the  latter  years  of  Napoleon,  and  has  continued 

208 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

to  strike  deeper  root  ever  since.  To  disclose  the  falla- 
cies which  this  idea  involves  will  be  the  main  thread 
which  will  guide  us  in  what  we  have  to  say  of  Russia. 
It  is  true  that  almost  every  year  of  the  last  century 
•and  a  half  has  witnessed  the  increase  of  Russia's  terri- 
torial possessions,  until  now  they  stretch  unbroken 
from  Polish  Wilna  in  the  west  to  Vladivostok  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  But  immense  territorial  conglomera- 
tions and  vast  throngs  of  population  have  not  gone  for 
much  in  the  making  of  history.  We  can  never  insist 
too  much  that  history  does  not  go  by  masses  and  ma- 
jorities, which,  however  important  they  may  be  in  the 
building  up  of  institutions,  are  not  the  main  producers 
of  history.  Small  and  intense  minorities  are  the  stuff 
from  which  start  the  causes  of  history.  We  may  admit 
that  a  mass  of  population  throughout  which  a  compara- 
tively high  state  of  civilization  prevails,  in  which  there 
are  unity  and  homogeneity,  and  which  is  bound  to- 
gether by  a  chain  of  common  civil  and  moral  institu- 
tions, may  be  of  great  power.  The  United  States  of 
America  afford  us  a  striking  instance.  In  America 
there  is  a  uniformity  of  civilization,  sentiment,  and 
aspirations  which  is  exceedingly  astonishing  to  a 
stranger  fresh  from  intensely  differentiated  Europe, 
who  is,  as  a  rule,  accustomed  to  meet  with  at  least  three 
degrees  or  stages  of  civilization  within  a  day's  travel. 
At  home  he  has  been  wont  to  class  his  fellow-beings 
roughly  as  either  peasants,  bourgeois,  or  nobility;  in 
America  he  meets  with  the  bourgeois  alone.  Conse- 
quently, any  given  idea  in  America,  once  it  takes, 
u  209 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

spreads  with  the  swiftness  of  an  immense  prairie  fire; 
it  is  impossible  to  foresee  where  it  may  end;  it  is  a 
spectacle  at  once  sublime  and  powerful. 

But  to  return  to  Russia.  Nowhere  is  there  homo- 
geneity. We  have  already  shown  the  class  distinction 
prevalent  in  all  the  Slav  countries.  Besides  this  there 
are  a  thousand  elements  of  subdivision.  The  creeds 
and  sects  of  Russia  may  be  counted  by  the  score ;  the 
different  and  mutually  unintelligible  tongues  run  into 
hundreds,  and  there  are  besides  a  legion  of  conflicting- 
psychological  forces.  The  average  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion is  very  low  when  measured  by  European  stand- 
ards. The  only  tie  which  binds  Russians  together  is  an 
outward  semblance  of  political  unity,  maintained  by 
an  army  of  eight  or  nine  hundred  thousand  State 
officials,  who  themselves  constitute  a  class  apart.  The 
more  you  study  Russia  the  more  the  conviction  will 
be  borne  in  upon  you  that  she  is  not  greatly  to  be 
feared.  The  spectre  of  Panslavism,  as  taught  by 
Bakunin,  has,  or  ought  to  have,  completely  disap- 
peared. 

Let  us  examine  for  a  moment  the  Russian  peril  to 
Europe  from  a  military  point  of  view.  It  is  quite 
impossible  that  an  invasion  of  Europe  such  as  took 
place  in  the  thirteenth  century,  at  the  hands  of  the 
Mongols  under  the  son  of  Gengiz  Khan,  could  any 
longer  succeed.  We  have  no  longer  to  fear  anything 
like  the  hordes  of  Turks  who  swept  down  upon  Eu- 
rope in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies.   The  days  of  Soliman  are  over,  and  the  defen- 

210 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

sive  organization  of  the  modern  Western  nations  would 
make  very  short  work  of  such  an  unsystematic  foray. 
But  a  methodically  and  scientifically  planned  invasion 
on  the  part  of  Russia  is  equally  beyond  the  horizon  of 
possibilities.  For  warfare  on  this  grandiose  and  regu- 
lar scale  Russia  is  in  no  wise  prepared.  Her  armies 
are  filled  with  excellent  recruits,  who  have  proved 
themselves,  time  after  time,  endowed  with  all  the  essen- 
tial fighting  qualities,  dogged  perseverance,  resistance, 
and  unflinching  bravery  in  time  of  defeat.  The  figures 
of  modern  military  statisticians  will  give  some  idea 
of  the  sterling  worth  of  the  Russian  rank  and  file. 
The  comparison  of  the  losses  sustained  by  Russian 
troops  in  battle  against  an  enemy  of  equal  strength, 
with  the  casualties  of  Italian  forces  under  like  circum- 
stances, is  peculiarly  instructive,  and  will  show  im- 
mediately that,  as  far  as  the  courage  of  the  common 
soldier  is  concerned,  Russia  has  no  reason  to  be  dis- 
satisfied. At  the  battle  of  Zorndorf  (1758),  45  per 
cent,  of  the  Russian  army  was  left  upon  the  field,  and 
the  losses  at  Kunersdorf  (1759)  were  equally  heavy. 
Here  are  the  percentages  of  Russian  casualties  in 
several  other  famous  engagements:  Austerlitz  (1805), 
15  per  cent:  Eylau  (1807),  28  per  cent.;  Friedland 
(1807),  24  per  cent. ;  Borodino  (1812),  31  per  cent. ; 
Warsaw  (1831),  18  per  cent.;  Inkermann  (1854),  24 
per  cent.;  Plevna  (I.)  (1877),  28  per  cent.;  Plevna 
(II.),  28  per  cent. ;  Plevna  (III.),  17  per  cent,  Ob- 
serve now  the  Italian  lists,  and  the  striking  contrast 
which  they  show:  St.  Lucia  (1848),  2  per  cent;  Cus- 

211 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

tozza  (1848),  1.2  per  cent.;  Mortara  (1849),  2.2  per 
cent;  No  vara  (1849),  5  per  cent.;  Solferino  (1859), 
8  per  cent. ;  Custozza  (1866),  4  per  cent.  But  physi- 
cal bravery  alone  will  not  suffice  unless  it  is  directed 
by  first-class  strategic  ability,  and  the  Eussian  gen- 
erals have  not  by  any  means  shone  so  brightly  as  have 
the  men  under  their  command.  In  the  Caucasus  it 
was  only  after  thirty-five  years  of  almost  uninter- 
rupted fighting,  with  vast  resources  of  men  and  money 
at  their  disposal,  a  free  hand  to  use  any  repressive 
measures  against  the  enemy,  and  after  sustaining 
many  defeats  and  enormous  losses,  that  the  Russians 
eventually  succeeded  in  partially  pacifying  the  heroic 
mountain  tribes  who  were  opposed  to  them  (1829-64). 
The  story  of  the  Crimean  War  (1854-56),  and  of  the 
Russo  -  Turkish  War  (1877-78),  is  so  well  known 
that  we  hardly  need  say  that  Russian  generalship 
was  anything  but  an  unmitigated  success.  ISTor  is 
this  incapacity  difficult  of  explanation.  In  modern 
warfare  more  than  the  weapon  is  needed;  the  intelli- 
gent initiative  of  each  individual  officer  is  required  in 
the  first  place,  and  although  this  may  be  increased  to  a 
great  extent  by  a  special  military  training,  it  is  more 
largely  the  result  of  the  national  moral  and  intellectual 
education. 

Russia  would  be  even  more  handicapped  in  a  Euro- 
pean war  by  her  lack  of  money.  She  is  really  a 
poverty-stricken  country,  and  what  capital  she  has  at 
her  disposal  is  almost  entirely  absorbed  by  her  nascent 
industrial  development.     She  has  none  of  the  hoarded 

212 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV  NATIONS 

wealth  of  Western  countries  to  fall  back  upon  in  time 
of  need,  and  the  funds  to  which  she  owes  her  present 
financial  position  have  been  drawn  to  a  considerable 
extent  from  the  surplus  riches  of  France,  her  ally. 
The  great  famines  with  which  the  country  is  so  fre- 
quently visited  are  an  unmistakable  sign  of  her  eco- 
nomical backwardness.  What  commerce  there  is  is  al- 
most exclusively  in  foreign  or  Israelitish  hands.  The 
native  industry  is  insignificant,  or  rather  nil;  for  the 
immense  mineral  wealth,  the  petroleum  wells  of  Baku, 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  English  capitalists.  Re- 
pressive and  terrorizing  measures  against  the  Jews 
can  only  end  in  crippling  what  little  commercial  enter- 
prise there  is.  The  Russian  having  as  yet  been  unable 
to  create  a  mercantile  middle  class,  the  exchange  of 
goods  is  practically  limited  to  the  great  fairs,  such  as 
those  of  ISfijni  Novgorod.  Commerce  is  thus  in  Rus- 
sia still  very  much  in  the  same  stage  of  development 
as  it  was  in  Europe  during  the  early  Middle  Ages. 
The  country  is  agricultural,  but  the  absence  of  a  nu- 
merous class  of  middlemen  paralyzes  the  movement  of 
corn  and  other  agricultural  products.  For  the  develop- 
ment of  a  really  extensive  network  of  railways,  capital 
is  wanting,  and  other  means  of  transport  are  hopelessly 
inadequate.  The  great  rivers  are  quite  insufficient, 
and  the  magnificent  project  of  linking  the  Black  Sea 
with  the  Baltic  by  a  canal  still  remains  a  project.  But 
of  all  the  drawbacks  under  which  Russia  labors,  the 
greatest  is  her  geographical  position — that  is  to  say,  the 
position  of  European    Russia,  shut  in  between  three 

213 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

closed  seas,  the  Caspian,  the  Baltic,  and  the  Black  Sea. 
We  shall  see  later  that  Russian  policy  tends  always 
towards  the  acquisition  of  a  real  and  unimpeded  mari- 
time outlet,  and  that  on  this  point  alone  she  is  likely 
to  come  into  hostile  collision  with  other  European 
Powers.  We  have  so  far  shown  that  Russia  is  incapa- 
ble of  seriously  menacing  the  peace  of  Europe  from 
a  military  point  of  view,  and  that,  even  had  she  the 
military  capacity,  the  financial  straits  in  which  she 
stands  would  preclude  her  from  espousing  such  an 
enterprise.  It  remains  to  point  out  that  an  unfriendly 
attitude  towards  Europe  is  absolutely  inconsistent 
with  Russian  policy,  and  that  nothing  could  be  more 
remote  from  the  minds  of  Russian  statesmen  than  an 
invasion  of  Europe. 

The  whole  of  Russian  policy  points  towards  the 
east.  For  the  last  hundred  years  the  expansion  of 
Russia  has  always  been  away  from  Europe,  and  she 
has  annexed  vast  tracts  of  land  beyond  the  Ural  Moun- 
tains. Quite  erroneous  is  the  idea,  very  generally 
current,  that  these  recent  acquisitions  consist  only  of 
barren  and  inhospitable  steppes.  Much  of  these  newly 
won  possessions  offers  the  brightest  prospects  to  the 
agricultural  colonist,  and  it  is  their  development  and 
exploitation  which  will  monopolize  all  the  energies  of 
the  Russian  nation  for  generations  to  come.  The  Rus- 
sian peasant  is  cut  out  by  nature  for  a  colonist.  He 
has  one  great  advantage  over  other  European  nations. 
His  generally  low  state  of  culture  permits  him  to 
intermarry,  without  any  undue  sense  of  debasement, 

214 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

with  the  indigenous  tribes  of  the  ultra-Ural  districts. 
In  times  of  peace  he  is  prodigiously  prolific,  so  that 
there  is  every  prospect  of  Russia,  in  the  end,  really 
absorbing  her  Asiatic  conquests,  with  the  result  that 
the  whole  of  her  immense  dominion,  from  west  to  east, 
will  be  peopled  with  a  Russian-speaking  and  Russian- 
thinking  population.  In  this  she  will  stand  in  marked 
contrast  with,  and  have  a  considerable  advantage  over, 
the  French,  English,  and  Dutch,  who  have  never  been 
able  to  form  in  Asia  any  other  but  "  provincial "  col- 
onies— that  is  to  say,  colonies  of  natives  with  a  Euro- 
pean government  of  officials.  Thus,  while  other  Euro- 
peans are  hindered  by  climatic  drawbacks  and  their 
superior  culture  from  ever  really  Europeanizing  their 
colonial  acquisitions,  the  Russian,  from  his  compara- 
tively low  state  of  culture,  stands  an  excellent  chance 
of  completely  Russifying  the  whole  of  his  empire. 
But  this  is  still  the  work  of  centuries.  Whether  Rus- 
sia will  also  succeed  in  denationalizing  Manchuria  and 
North  China  is  a  question  of  the  very  far  future,  and 
on  which  it  would  be  rash  to  risk  an  opinion.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  interior  of  China  is  too  imperfect  to 
permit  of  any  serious  prediction. 

There  has  always  been  a  tendency  to  exaggerate 
the  grounds  of  hostility  that  exist  between  England 
and  Russia.  The  slightest  movement  of  the  Muscovite 
Government,  either  on  the  Pamir  frontier,  in  Persia, 
or  in  the  Far  East,  is  construed  as  a  harbinger  of  war. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  serious  statesmen  hold  the  same 
view.     In  Russian  policy  two  points  must  be  firmly 

215 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

grasped,  firstly,  that  sooner  or  later  Russia  must  ac- 
quire an  ice-free  and  open  port  on  the  ocean,  and, 
secondly,  that  she  is  irresistible  on  land.  She  is 
already  in  possession  of  the  hinterland  of  Persia  and 
of  North  China ;  whether  she  will  open  her  first  harbor 
on  the  Indian  Ocean  or  the  North  Chinese  coast  may 
still  be  doubtful.  What  is  quite  certain  is  that,  once 
Russia  is  in  possession  of  the  hinterland,,  it  is  quite 
impossible  that  any  other  European  Power  should  de- 
bar her  from  the  sea-coast. 

What  Russia  will  do  intellectually,  what  she  will 
achieve  in  the  interests  of  civilization,  is  a  matter  of 
the  deepest  interest.  Will  she  produce  a  new  type  of 
culture,  different,  but  as  valuable  in  its  way  as  those 
evolved  by  England,  Erance,  and  Germany  ?  To  this 
question,  at  least,  we  are  in  a  position  to  hazard  a  pre- 
liminary answer.  Very  many  obstacles  stand  in  Rus- 
sia's way  along  the  path  of  progress,  but  it  is  a  very 
wrong  notion  to  imagine  that  the  autocratic  govern- 
ment now  prevailing  is  among  the  greatest.  The  idea 
that  a  country  may  be  given  a  beneficial  constitution 
in  a  day;  the  Benthamite  conception  that  a  form  of 
government  can  be  drawn  up  upon  ideal  lines  to  fit 
the  requirements  of  any  nation,  and  that  that  nation 
will  be  able  to  don  it  and  wear  it  like  a  new  suit  of 
clothes — has  long  been  proved  false.  A  constitution, 
unless  it  has  been  won  by  the  efforts  of  the  people 
themselves,  is  not  likely  to  prove  a  good  fit.  And  in 
Russia  the  lower  classes  have  not  manifested  any  de- 
sire for  a  superior  form  of  government  to  that  under 

216 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV   NATIONS 

which  they  at  present  live.  The  class  that  desires  con- 
stitutional reforms  is  the  middle  class,  and  this  class, 
in  the  real  sense  of  bourgeoisie,  we  have  already  shown 
does  not  exist.  Its  absence,  however,  is  the  greatest 
check  upon  the  advance  of  Russian  culture.  It  has 
been  our  aim  throughout  this  book  to  show  that  all 
the  great  streams  of  modern  civilization,  all  its  ideals, 
have  risen  among  the  bourgeoisie.  The  bourgeoisie 
is  the  outcome  and  the  one  great  creation  for  which 
we  have  to  thank  the  Middle  Ages.  Russia  is  still 
mediaeval,  although  possibly  her  medievalism  may  be 
slightly  tinctured  with  humanity,  borrowed  from  West- 
ern states.  Serfdom  may  be  abolished,  but  Russia 
has  still  to  live  through  her  Middle  Ages,  and  we  may 
well  be  permitted  to  doubt  whether  she  will  attain  to 
a  parallel  degree  of  culture  with  the  great  European 
countries,  unless  she  first  passes  through  the  stages 
through  which  those  countries  have  passed.  There  is 
no  royal  road  to  civilization. 

But  the  most  hopeless  barrier  to  Russian  progress 
is  her  Church,  the  Greek  Church.  From  the  Greek 
Church  it  is  impossible  to  see  how  she  will  escape. 
Wherever  the  Greek  Church  has  become  paramount,  it 
has  proved  infinitely  more  sterilizing,  infinitely  more 
paralyzing  in  its  influence  than  has  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church.  We  cannot  here  go  into  the  causes  of 
this  baneful  power,  which  the  author  has  sought  to  fol- 
low out  in  detail  in  a  chapter  of  his  General  His- 
tory, which  is  to  appear  during  the  course  of  the 
present  year.    We  must  ask  the  reader  to  take  the  fact 

217 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

for  the  present  as  he  finds  it.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  Catholic  Church,  much  as  may  be  the  misery 
and  suffering  it  has  caused,  has  always  acted  as  a 
potent  civilizing  agent.  Even  the  opposition  it  has 
called  forth  has  been  for  good.  But  the  Greek  Church 
has  never  excited  opposition.  It  has  had  neither  a 
Saint  Bernard  nor  a  Torquemada.  It  has  had  be- 
lievers and  heretics,  but  no  passionately  aggressive 
and  inquisitive  doubters.  Now  that  the  Russians 
themselves  have  opened  their  eyes  to  its  imperfections, 
sects  innumerable  have  risen  against  it,  but  none 
capable  of  seriously  opposing,  much  less  of  replacing 
it.  For  a  moment  there  seemed  some  hope  that 
Tolstoiism  might  supply  the  remedy,  but  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  it  contains  too  much  quietism  and  quali- 
ties that  make  for  stagnation  to  really  replace  the 
Greek  Church.  Hungary  has  no  benefactor  to  whom 
she  is  more  indebted  than  to  Pope  Sylvester  II.  (999- 
1003  a.d.),  to  whom  she  owes  her  Catholicization,  and 
her  admittance  to  participate  in  Western  thought. 

Every  one  of  the  great  Western  nations  has  had 
to  stand  the  test  of  a  triple  trial  before  it  could  reach 
its  actual  condition.  It  has  had  to  pass  through  an 
intellectual  Renaissance,  a  religious  Reformation,  and 
a  political  Revolution.  And  we  may  suppose  that 
Russia  will  not  escape  the  necessity  of  passing  through 
a  like  series  of  stages.  Incidentally,  it  may  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  Catholic  countries,  too,  have  had  their 
Reformation  in  the  Council  of  Trent. 

To  resume,  we  may  predict  with  fair  confidence  that 
218 


SUCCESS   AMONG   SLAV  NATIONS 

Russia  will  no  longer  prove  a  serious  menace  to  the 
peace  of  Europe;  that  her  future  will  be  fully  occu- 
pied with  her  colonial,  industrial,  social,  and  political 
development,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  historic  pre- 
cedent, her  social  growth  will  of  necessity  precede  her 
political  development.  So  far,  revolutions  in  west- 
ern Europe  have  not  been  of  the  making  of  a  discon- 
tented peasantry,  but  of  a  middle  class  which  has  risen 
to  consciousness  of  its  own  power,  and  has  grasped 
the  fact  that  it  is  its  prerogative  to  govern  itself. 


XI 

SUCCESS    AMONG    GERMANS 

The  Germans.  The  women.  The.  men.  Education;  especially 
higher  education.  The  universities.  The  cause  of  the  su- 
periority of  the  German  professor.  German  intellectual 
activity;  its  universality  and  wonderful  organization 
(Jalirbiicher,  Handbiicher,  Encylopcedien,  etc.).  Germany's 
great  military  defeats  and  successes  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Her  imperialism.  Her  internal  dangers.  Socialism. 
The  chief  obstacle  to  German  imperialism  is  her  geography. 
She  can  never  absorb  Austria.  Reasons:  France  and  Italy 
cannot  admit  it.  Irreconcilability  of  France.  It  is  only 
by  absorption  of  Austria  that  Germany  could,  by  obtain- 
ing access  to  the  Adriatic,  sit  astride  on  the.  continent  of 
Europe,  and  so  essentially  improve  her  chances  for  impe- 
rialism and  icorld-policy  by  securing  real  sea-power.  Her 
industrial  progress  will  soon  be  checked  and  toned  down 
by  the  rapid  and  rising  industrialism  of  Italy,  Austria- 
Hungary,  and  the  numerous  minor  but  very  wealthy  States 
of  Europe.  Yet  with  all  that,  the  German  will  undoubt- 
edly realize  much  of  the  higher  type  of  civilization. 

At  the  present  day  there  is  no  problem  which  ex- 
cites keener  interest  than  the  future  career  of  Ger- 
many. Every  one  would  like  to  know  whether  she  is 
destined  to  become  the  great  Power  which  will  be  able 
to  impose  its  dictates  upon  the  whole  of  Europe,  or 
rather  upon  the  whole  world,  or  whether  the  bond  of 
unity,  by  which  she  is  now  held  together,  will,  when 
the  master  hand  now  directing  her  policy  is  relaxed, 

220 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GEEMANS 

burst  asunder,  leaving  the  component  states  once  more 
in  their  primitive  disunion.  To  most  people  these  are 
problems  of  more  than  academic  interest;  they  touch 
the  man  of  business  in  the  dealings  of  every-day  life 
just  as  much  as  they  absorb  the  student  of  history. 
Within  a  generation  Germany  has  risen  by  leaps  and 
bounds  from  a  level  of  comparative  unimportance  to 
a  position  in  which  she  makes  her  commercial,  politi- 
cal, and  intellectual  competition  felt  the  whole  world 
over.  We  shall  do  our  best  in  the  course  of  the  en- 
suing pages  to  sketch  out  the  main  lines  along  which 
the  future  of  Germany  is  likely  to  proceed,  and  to 
give,  at  any  rate,  a  provisional  answer  to  some  of  the 
questions  raised  above. 

It  is  all-important  to  gain  first  a  clear  idea  of  the 
social  forces  which  are  at  work  in  Germany.  The 
German  character  is  not  so  difficult  of  appreciation  as 
is  the  French,  and  we  have  a  great  advantage  in  speak- 
ing of  Germany  in  that  we  have  not  first  to  stem  such 
a  tide  of  prejudice  and  misconception  as  we  have  had 
to  do  in  the  case  of  France. 

Germany  is  certainly  less  known,  either  to  her  ad- 
vantage or  her  disadvantage,  than  is  France,  and  what 
knowledge  of  her  does  prevail  in  foreign  countries  is 
in  no  small  degree  tinctured  by  the  rather  envious  ad- 
miration of  her  success,  and  the  methods  by  which  she 
has  attained  it.  The  social  types  of  Germany  are  com- 
paratively simple,  though  they  differ  considerably  ac- 
cording to  place.  The  German  of  the  south,  much  as 
he  has  in  common  with  the  German  of  the  north 

221 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

politically,  is  strongly  differentiated  from  him  both 
physically  and  socially.  Let  us  first  take  the  typical 
woman  of  North  Germany.  Her  feminine  charms 
arc  certainly  somewhat  less  than  those  of  her  southern 
sister.  There  is  something  slightly  angular  in  her 
temperament,  as  there  is  in  her  person,  something  a 
little  too  harsh,  a  little  too  severe.  The  faces  which 
you  see  in  one  of  the  great  northern  cities  are  rarely 
beautiful,  though,  of  course,  there  are  exceptions ;  the 
features  are  more  often  cast  in  a  rather  rigid  and  un- 
pleasing  mould.  Perhaps  these  characteristics  are  the 
outcome  of  a  long  process  of  social  evolution.  We  can 
imagine  what  life  has  been  in  the  Hanseatic  cities  for 
generation  upon  generation.  They  were  the  first 
great  centres  of  commercial  activity,  and  their  wealth 
grew  rapidly.  An  early  result  of  this  thriving  busi- 
ness life  was  the  institution  of  the  mariage  de  con- 
venance.  Alliances  were  doubtless  contracted  out  of 
purely  interested  motives.  Such  and  such  a  family 
combination  was  bound  to  prove  highly  advantageous 
to  business,  as  it  would  secure  the  co-operation  of  two 
great  firms.  The  bargain  was  struck,  the  marriage  was 
concluded  entirely  as  a  business  move,  without  one  jot 
or  tittle  of  a  sentimental  character.  Suppose  this  pro- 
cedure to  have  been  repeated  an  indefinite  number  of 
times  in  successive  generations,  and  is  there  anything 
surprising  in  the  physical  type  being  finally  affected? 
Speaking  more  in  general,  it  would  appear  that  femi- 
nine beauty  is  certainly  more  common  among  those 
nations  who  keep  business  and  private  life  strictly 

222 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GEEMANS 

separate;  where  marriage  is,  as  a  rule,  the  outcome  of 
mutual  attraction  arid  conformability  of  disposition, 
rather  than  of  a  money  arrangement.  The  average  of 
beauty  in  America,  for  instance,  is  certainly  higher 
than  in  the  countries  of  Europe,  where  the  dowry 
system  has  been  of  long  standing,  and  still  prevails. 

As  we  go  south,  the  women  of  Germany  become 
more  genial,  more  attractive,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
social  environments  are  modified.  We  have  passed  out 
of  the  region  of  the  large  and  ancient  free  cities  into  a 
district  where  urban  life  is  only  now  developing 
widely,  but  where  the  bulk  of  the  population  consists 
of  well-to-do  peasants,  living  a  healthy  open-air  life  in 
the  midst  of  a  country  in  which  subsistence  is  cheap 
and  good,  with  plenty  of  wine  and  beer.  The  money 
marriage  has  not  here  been  the  rule,  and  the  physical 
type  is  consequently  finer. 

The  German  woman  has  not  been  nearly  so  active 
in  the  making  of  her  country's  history  as  has  the  wom- 
an of  France.  Her  role  is  not  nearly  so  important  in 
public  life ;  moreover,  her  bringing  up  is  very  different. 
If  the  Frenchwoman  arrives  at  the  perfection  of  her 
being  in  married  life,  the  German  woman  is  probably 
of  greater  influence  during  her  maidenhood.  Although 
she  cannot  claim  the  unfettered  freedom  of  the  Amer- 
ican girl,  she  is  not,  in  her  youth,  cloistered  and  cooped 
up  with  the  severity  enforced  upon  the  French  girl. 
She  strikes  the  happy  mean,  and  enjoys  considerable 
liberty,  without  the  loss  of  that  naivete  and  idealistic 
turn  of  mind  which  appeals  so  strongly  to  the  purer 

223 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

imagination  of  the  young  man.  We  can  at  once  grasp 
the  reason  why  Germany  has  bloomed  into  a  wealth  of 
lyric  verse,  utterly  foreign  to  France.  After  marriage, 
the  German  woman,  as  a  rule,  lapses  into  almost  entire 
obscurity;  the  cares  of  her  household  absorb  her  thor- 
oughly, and  she  becomes  the  Hausfrau,  whose  stolid 
dulness  has  become  almost  proverbial  throughout  Eu- 
rope, and  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  reputation  is 
not  quite  unmerited. 

In  Germany  the  triple  class  distinction  is  main- 
tained, much  as  in  France,  and  generally  over  the 
whole  continent.  This  distinction,  of  course,  does  not 
exist  before  the  law,  in  the  eyes  of  which  there  is  com- 
plete equality;  it  is  none  the  less  real.  It  does  not, 
however,  preserve  much  of  its  mediaeval  character,  and 
peasant,  bourgeois,  and  noble,  although  clearly  dif- 
ferentiated, each  have  a  pride  in  their  position,  and 
do  not  visit  each  other  with  mutual  disdain.  In  Amer- 
ica, where  the  peasant  population  is  non-existent,  and 
in  England,  where  it  has  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
ceased  to  exist,  there  can  be  little  conception  of  what 
this  Bauemstolz,  the  pride  of  the  peasant,  really  is. 
The  German  peasant  is  in  many  ways  different  from 
his  French  counterpart,  who,  either  as  a  result  of  his 
grasping,  miserly  avarice,  or  for  some  other  reason,  has 
become  almost  everywhere  depoeticized.  The  word 
paysan,  in  French,  and.  the  word  Bauer,  in  German, 
conjure  up  very  different  pictures  before  the  mind's 
eye.  When  a  Frenchman  applies  the  name  "  peasant," 
he  suggests  a  thousand  niggardly,  cunning,  money- 

224 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GEKMANS 

grabbing,  utilitarian,  commonplace  qualities,  and  the 
word  certainly  has  in  it  a  ring  of  contempt.  The  Ger- 
man Bauer,  on  the  contrary,  has  retained  much  of  the 
poetry  of  olden  days;  he  has  clung  tenaciously  to  a 
thousand  quaint  customs,  to  his  picturesque  costume, 
and  he  still  has  that  wealth  of  fantastic  and  poetical 
imagination  which  has  left  so  profound  a  mark  on 
German  literature ;  he  still  is  the  repository  of  stories, 
legends,  and  fairy  tales,  which  he  has  refused  to  for- 
get under  the  grindstone  of  a  matter-of-fact,  prosaic 
age.  The  folklorist,  who  might  live  for  a  lifetime  in 
some  French  country  districts  without  enriching  his 
collections  by  a  single  item,  would  find  his  paradise 
in  the  wild  surroundings  of  the  Harz  and  the  Black 
Forest.  We  shall  see  how  powerful,  in  other  walks  of 
life  in  Germany,  is  this  tendency  to  idealism,  and 
what  a  valuable  adjunct  it  is  to  German  national  life. 
Unhappily,  the  third  estate  is  being,  ever  so  slowly, 
undermined  by  the  spread  of  a  constantly  widening  in- 
dustrialism. The  preservation  of  a  large  peasant  popu- 
lation is  one  of  the  most  indispensable  necessities  for 
all  the  great  Continental  Powers,  for  it  is  upon  the 
sound  and  healthy  recruits  furnished  by  this  class 
that  these  nations  most  chiefly  rely  in  time  of  war. 
They  are  the  physical  basis  of  national  prosperity. 

The  bourgeois  section  of  the  community  has  im- 
mensely increased  with  the  growth  of  urban  life; 
it  is  from  the  bourgeoisie  that  the  intellectual  back- 
bone of  the  country  is  built  up,  all  being  more  or 
less   highly   educated    as    the    result   of   a    thorough 

15  225 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

State  training  in  the  schools,  which  are  open  and  com- 
pulsory to  all. 

Here  we  come  to  the  greatest  force  which  is  working 
for  the  future  welfare  of  Germany.  This  is  her  intel- 
lectuality. The  systematic  thoroughness  with  which 
everything  is  carried  out  in  the  world  of  intellect  is 
almost  inconceivable.  When  any  one  has  been  com- 
pelled for  years  to  make  use  of  German  books,  he  will 
begin  to  realize  the  immense  labor  which  has  been 
done  by  Germans  in  the  organization  of  knowledge. 
From  his  earliest  years  the  German  youth,  whatever 
degree  of  learning  he  may  eventually  be  meant  to 
attain,  is,  at  any  rate,  taught  to  learn  systematically. 
He  is  never  permitted  to  specialize  in  any  subject  until 
he  has  a  complete  grasp  of  generalities,  in  order  that 
he  may  have  in  his  mind  at  least  a  sense  of  the  propor- 
tion of  what  he  has  to  learn.  The  schools  are  also 
systematized,  and  fall  into  two  strictly  demarcated 
categories,  the  Bealschulen  and  the  Gymnasia.  In  the 
former  are  taught  chiefly  the  natural  sciences,  some- 
what as  in  the  modern  sides  of  English  schools ;  in  the 
latter  the  principal  subjects  of  instruction  are  Latin 
and  Greek;  but  the  student  is  in  all  cases  compelled 
to  go  through  a  preliminary  general  curriculum.  By 
the  time  the  young  man  goes  to  the  university,  his 
knowledge  will  probably  be  already  very  extensive; 
he,  at  all  events,  has  his  mind  thoroughly  ordered,  and 
knows  in  what  particular  receptacle  to  classify  all  sub- 
sequently acquired  information.  His  studies  are  never 
allowed  to  proceed  haphazard.    In  the  higher  walks  of 

226 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GERMANS 

scientific  research  the  same  methods  are  pursued. 
Many  of  the  universities  have  at  their  disposition 
very  considerable  sums  for  bestowal  in  the  form  of 
prizes  for  the  furtherance  of  original  scientific  work, 
This  patrimony  is  very  carefully  administered,  and 
subjects  suitable  for  research,  and  requiring  elucida- 
tion, are  pointed  out  to  the  competitors,  in  order  that 
none  of  the  precious  store  of  energy  need  be  expended 
in  vain.  This  system  of  education  looks  very  perfect 
upon  paper :  we  have  already  shown  what  are  the  evil 
effects  of  over-intellectualization.  The  Germans  have 
certainly  hit  the  mean,  as  far  as  it  is  feasible  to  hit 
a  mean  between  first-rate  intellectual  development 
and  a  degree  of  volitional  energy  indispensable  to 
render  that  intellectual  development  fertile. 

A  few  words  will  show  what  immense  services  have 
been  rendered  by  the  Germans  in  the  systematic  classi- 
fication of  knowledge.  The  very  names  of  books  have 
received  a  technical  significance  quite  unknown  in  oth- 
er countries.  To  the  German  mind,  for  instance,  the 
word  Encyclopadie  represents  something  quite  differ- 
ent from  the  alphabetical  agglomeration  of  facts 
which  we  usually  associate  with  the  term  Encyclo- 
paedia. Such  a  work  would  be  called  a  Konversations- 
lexicon,  or  Reallexicon;  the  Encyclopadie  is  something 
quite  apart.  If  you  wish  to  study  a  science,  the  first 
book  you  must  lay  your  hand  on  must  be  its  Encyclo- 
padie. It  will  not  necessarily  be  a  big  book  at  all, 
and  it  is  not  the  place  in  which  to  seek  for  minute 
details  of  knowledge,  but  by  ineans  of  it  you  will  get 

22*7 


SUCCESS   AMONG    NATIONS 

a  grasp  of  the  ground  which  your  particular  science 
covers ;  you  will  get  an  idea  of  its  organization,  its  di- 
visions, its  system ;  you  will  get  a  summary  view  of  the 
whole  science,  so  that  you  will  know  exactly  how  far 
it  has  been  carried,  and  what  there  is  for  you  to  learn. 
All  this  is  implied  to  the  German  by  the  word  Ency- 
clopadie.  Should  you  wish  to  pursue  your  studies  fur- 
ther you  will  have  to  purchase  a  Grundriss:  this  will 
take  you  over  the  same  ground  again,  but  will  give 
you  much  fuller  detail;  it  will,  above  all,  give  quota- 
tions from  the  original  sources,  from  the  great  books 
on  the  subject,  together  with  the  fullest  bibliographies, 
whereas  the  Encyclopadie  has  only  given  select  bib- 
liographies. The  next  books  are  the  Lehrbuch  and  the 
Handbuch.  The  former  is  a  yet  further  expansion  of 
the  Grundriss,  especially  destined  for  the  use  of  the 
student ;  the  latter  a  complete  compendium  of  the  sci- 
ence, for  the  use  and  reference  of  the  specialist.  You 
have  now  made  yourself  a  thorough  master  of  your 
subject  by  dint  of  assiduous  labor  on  this  organized 
system,  but  you  will  still  require  to  be  kept  au  courant 
of  the  subsequent  progress  in  your  study.  Your  Hand- 
buch, in  spite  of  frequent  new  editions,  will  be  a  lit- 
tle behind  the  times.  To  combat  this  drawback,  the 
Germans  have  devised  yet  another  instrument.  This  is 
the  Jahrbucli,  the  triumph  of  German  scientific  meth- 
ods. As  the  name  implies,  these  books  appear  annu- 
ally. They  are  edited  by  the  most  competent  authori- 
ties upon  the  subjects  with  which  they  deal.  Let  us  con- 
sider, for  example's  sake,  a  Jahrbucli  on  botany.     Its 

S28 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GEKMANS 

internal  classification  will  be  arranged  upon  a  system 
which  has  already  been  inculcated  on  the  student  in 
the  Encyclopadie,  so  that  in  turning  over  its  pages 
he  will  not  have  a  moment's  hesitation  as  to  what  par- 
ticular section  will  contain  the  information  of  which 
he  is  in  search.  It  is  the  object  of  the  Jahrbuch  in 
question  to  enregister  everything  that  has  been  done 
during  the  preceding  year  with  regard  to  botany.  Ev- 
ery fresh  discovery  is  noted,  every  periodical  article 
dealing  with  botanical  questions  or  researches  is  care- 
fully recorded,  every  book  which  has  been  published 
during  the  year  is  given,  very  often  with  the  fullest 
critical  notes.  Nothing  which  has  appeared  in  any 
country  relating  to  their  particular  subject  can  for 
a  moment  elude  the  vigilant  eyes  of  the  compilers 
of  the  Jahrbuch.  It  needs  no  keen  insight  to  see  what 
invaluable  services  this  work  may  render  to  the  writer 
upon  botany  or  to  the  scientific  investigator  himself. 
The  writer  is  sure  of  having  absolutely  the  latest  and 
most  accurate  information  concerning  the  matter  of 
which  he  is  writing,  the  scientist  can  assure  himself 
that  he  is  not  frittering  away  his  time  in  researches 
which  have  already  been  worked  out  to  a  successful 
or  unsuccessful  result  by  another.  Even  if  the  Jahr- 
buch be  only  looked  upon  as  a  saver  of  time,  an  econ- 
omizer of  labor,  it  would  be  hard  to  overrate  its  value. 
Every  science  has  its  Jahrbuch.  There  are  Jahr- 
bucher  on  Teutonic  philology,  on  Oriental  philology, 
on  ancient  philology,  on  modern  history;  there  are 
Jahrbucher  on  almost  everything.     Some  of  the  series 

229 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

cover  many  years,  some  are  of  only  recent  institution. 
But  it  is  certain  that  the  German  scholar,  in  quest  of 
the  most  up-to-date  literature  on  his  particular  special- 
ity, can  really  not  be  nonplussed  in  his  search.  If  he 
wants  to  know  what  the  latest  traveller  has  had  to 
say  upon  the  obscurest  Tungusic  dialect  spoken  some- 
where almost  out  of  ken  in  the  wilds  of  Siberia,  he 
can  find  it  within  the  minute  so  long  as  his  Jahrbuch 
is  within  his  reach.  So,  too,  the  doctor,  interested  in 
malaria,  can  discover,  with  mechanical  ease,  the  latest 
specialist  literature  on  his  subject. 

We  have  gone  somewhat  fully  into  the  social  and 
intellectual  aspects  of  modern  Germany,  for  it  is  very 
necessary  to  have  a  clear  notion  of  the  way  a  nation 
lives  and  thinks,  before  embarking  upon  what  may 
appear  a  somewhat  ambitious  attempt  to  forecast  that 
nation's  political  career.  It  is  in  the  every-day  life  of 
the  people,  and  from  long  habitation  among  them,  that 
one  can  alone  hope  to  win  some  knowledge  of  the 
ideals  by  which  they  are  impelled.  Without  this  ex- 
perience a  man's  ideas  of  the  great  motive  forces  by 
which  a  nation  is  influenced  will,  in  all  likelihood,  be 
nothing  but  a  dim  and  distorted  phantom  of  his  own 
strivings  and  ambitions.  We  shall  now  endeavor,  with  in 
the  limits  of  our  power,  to  sketch  the  ideals  by  which 
the  future  of  Germany  is  being  moulded,  and  to  estimate 
what  chances  those  ideals  possess  of  being  fulfilled. 

Imperialism,  which  has  become  the  watchword  of 
the  external  policy  of  several  great  nations  of  to-day, 
has  laid  hold  of  the  German  mind  with  especial  force. 

230 


SUCCESS   AMONG  GEEMANS 

Now  that,  by  the  successive  defeats  of  Austria  and 
France,  the  Germans  frave  built  up  and  assured  the 
stability  of  their  internal  union,  they  have  begun  to 
aspire  to  a  far  wider  extension  of  their  power.  It  is 
their  ambition,  by  the  development  of  their  naval 
strength,  to  carry  their  sphere  of  influence  over  the 
whole  globe.  The  Emperor,  when  he  declared  that 
"  Germany's  future  lay  upon  the  water,"  was  only 
giving  voice  to  the  idea  which  animates  a  very  con- 
siderable majority  of  the  nation,  which  is  full  well 
aware  that  Germany  cannot  make  good  her  claim  to 
be  a  first-rate  Power  until  she  can  make  herself  re- 
spected and  feared  upon  the  sea.  She  must  raise  her 
maritime  force  until  it  is  able  to  stand  upon  a  footing 
of  equality  with  the  other  great  naval  Powers  of 
Europe.  For  the  last  ten  years  Germany  has  been 
toiling  unremittingly  to  bring  about  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  design.  Her  dockyards  have  been  at  work 
ceaselessly,  building  and  equipping  battle-ship  upon 
battle-ship,  cruiser  upon  cruiser,  until  to-day  she  has 
a  very  considerable  fleet  in  commission,  while  her 
programme  of  naval  construction  during  the  next  dec- 
ade is  upon  grandiose  lines.  The  German  scientific 
journals  show  us  that  Germany  is  pursuing  her  object 
with  the  systematic  thoroughness  which  characterizes 
all  her  work.  Every  month  witnesses  the  publication 
of  some  new  book  on  naval  tactics,  naval  construction, 
or  naval  history,  and  no  pains  are  being  spared  in  or- 
der that  Germans  may  make  the  most  minute  and 
searching  study  of  all  that  appertains  to  an  exhaustive 

231 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

and  practical  knowledge  of  everything  that  is  requi- 
site to  a  iirst-class  navy.  The  drift  of  all  this  busy, 
unflagging  preparation  can  hardly  be  doubtful.  For 
fifty  years  there  was  the  same  hum  of  an  army  mak- 
ing ready,  the  same  keen  attention  to  military  af- 
fairs, the  same  drilling  of  soldiers  and  training  of 
officers,  before  Germany  hurled  herself  irresistibly 
upon  France,  full  of  sanguine  confidence  in  her  suc- 
cess. In  the  same  manner  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Germany  is  arming  herself  with  patient,  calculating, 
and  laborious  perseverance  for  the  day  when  she  shall 
at  last  feel  ready  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  of  de- 
fiance in  the  face  of  England.  Germany  is  of  those 
that  look,  meditate,  and  prepare  before  they  leap,  in 
order  that  they  need  have  to  leap  but  once. 

Technically,  then,  the  German  dream  of  a  world- 
power  means  immense  power  both  by  land  and  by  sea. 
In  order  to  obtain  this,  Germany  would  like  to  have 
direct  access  to  the  Adriatic.  Once  she  gains  this 
access,  she  can  put  into  execution  the  oft-meditated 
plan  of  drawing  a  canal  from  the  Elbe  to  Trieste,  and 
she  would  thus  sit  astride  of  Europe,  and  could  afford 
to  make  light  of  any  Franco  -  Russian  combination 
against  her.  She  has  carried  out  a  very  similar  design 
in  linking  the  Baltic  to  the  North  Sea,  and  rendering 
herself  independent  of  the  dangerous  passage  of  the 
Kattegat,  easily  closed  by  a  hostile  power  in  time  of 
war,  and  of  which  she  is  able  to  control  neither  entry. 
By  a  trans-European  canal  she  would  nullify  the  stra- 
tegic value  of  the  English  Channel,  where  very  possi- 

232 


SUCCESS   AMONG  GEEMANS 

bly  she  would  have,  far  from  any  protecting  base  or 
haven  of  shelter,  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  combined 
English  and  French  navies.  In  the  construction  of 
such  a  canal  she  would  only  be  realizing,  on  a  some- 
what more  grandiose  scale,  the  dream  which  has  been 
cherished  by  some  great  French  statesmen,  and  is  still 
cherished  by  Eussia.  Kichelieu  already  pointed  out 
that  a  canal  on  the  grandest  scale,  linking  Bordeaux 
to  Nimes,  would  undermine  the  value  of  Gibraltar.  A 
French  fleet  could  be  carried,  as  it  were,  overland  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Mediterranean  much  more  rapidly 
that  a  hostile  armada  could  sail  round  the  whole  Ibe- 
rian peninsula,  and  France  could  change  the  scene 
of  operations  in  a  naval  war  as  best  suited  her  con- 
venience, and  offer  battle  with  her  whole  combined 
fleets  against  the  disunited  squadrons  of  her  enemy 
in  whichever  sea  she  preferred.  The  French  mari- 
time forces,  if  swept  out  of  the  Mediterranean,  need 
not  any  more  dread  being  cooped  up  in  the  harbors 
of  the  southern  littoral,  but  could  re-emerge  upon  the 
western  coast.  The  project  has  remained  a  project, 
and  it  seems  almost  inexplicable  that  the  French 
should  take  so  little  interest  in  securing  the  pre-em- 
inence of  their  navy  by  a  work  which  would  have  ren- 
dered a  battle  of  Trafalgar  out  of  the  question,  and 
which  would  certainly  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such 
a  battle.  Russia  has  much  the  same  scheme  for  uni- 
ting the  Black  Sea  and  the  Baltic;  but,  as  we  have 
before  pointed  out,  Russia's  policy  tends  ever  eastward, 
and  we  need  hardly  be  astonished  that  she  hesitates  to 

233 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

strain  her  already  impoverished  finances  in  order  to  se- 
cure her  pre-eminence  in  two  landlocked  seas.  With 
Germany  the  prospective  gains  are  immeasurably 
grander. 

There  is  one  circumstance  which  promises  well  for 
the  future  of  Germany's  naval  ambitions,  and  this  is 
the  ever-increasing  growth  of  her  mercantile  marine. 
Hitherto  England  alone  has  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
an  immense  unofficial  reserve  of  officers  and  men,  on 
which  she  could  draw  in  moments  of  stress,  to  fill  the 
breaches  caused  by  war,  and  to  man  her  spare  vessels. 
But  the  number  of  German  sailors  is  growing  daily, 
as  is  the  number  of  ships  that  fly  her  flag;  and  Ger- 
many, too,  may  soon  have  an  equal,  if  not  superior, 
stock  from  which  to  replenish  her  navy  when  need 
arises.  The  statistics  of  the  Suez  Canal  show  that  the 
number  of  German  vessels  passing  backward  and  for- 
ward between  Europe  and  the  East  is  now  only  sur- 
passed by  the  number  of  British  ships,  a  fact  which 
alone  boldly  illustrates  the  metamorphosis  which  the 
shipping  world  has  undergone  in  the  course  of  the  last 
two  or  three  decades. 

Germany's  oversea  policy  is  not  the  outcome  of 
sheer  ambition,  mere  desire  to  participate  in  the  game 
of  grab;  it  is  inspired  by  imperious  necessity.  It  is 
the  result  of  no  artificial  impulse.  Since  1870  the  fig- 
ures of  her  population  have  wellnigh  doubled,  the 
elbow-room  in  the  Fatherland  is  becoming  cramped, 
and  the  energetic  portion  of  the  inhabitants  is  com- 
pelled to  emigrate  to  America,  where  it  ceases  to  con- 

234 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GERMANS 

tribute  to  the  force  of  the  home  country.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  crucial  importance  to  Germany  that  she  should 
have  fields  of  colonial  expansion  under  her  own  im- 
perial control.  But  where  are  such  fields  to  be  found  ? 
Almost  all  available  space  has  long  been  occupied  by 
other  Powers,  and  Germany  is,  at  all  events,  not  yet 
desirous  of  winning  territory  by  hostile  means.  In  her 
distress  her  eyes  have  fallen  upon  the  nearer  East. 
This  is  the  explanation  of  her  forbearance  and  solici- 
tude for  the  Sublime  Porte ;  it  lies  in  no  disinterested 
affection,  but  Germany  would  like  to  win  a  firm  foot- 
hold in  Asia  Minor,  already  the  scene  of  her  brilliant 
railway  schemes.  And  if  eventually  Germany  should 
colonize  the  eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean,  she 
will  have  even  more  potent  inducements  for  securing 
a  naval  base  in  the  Adriatic. 

We  have  sketched  out  in  brief  and  summary  outline 
what  we  may  expect  to  be  the  tendency  of  German 
foreign  policy  in  the  near  future.  It  is  now  time  to 
observe  the  hindrances  and  stumbling-blocks  with 
which  such  a  policy  is  sown.  Perhaps  the  most  for- 
midable antagonist  with  which  Germany  has  to  con- 
tend will  be  found  within  her  own  borders,  in  the 
Socialist  party.  We  must  not  by  any  means  impute 
anarchist  tenets  to  this  party,  but  they  constitute  a 
powerful  disruptive  element  in  the  Imperial  Federa- 
tion, to  the  foreign  policy  of  which  they  are  violently 
opposed,  and  they  are  strong  enough  to  make  their 
opposition  very  keenly  sensible.  In  the  last  elections 
they  disposed  of  over  three  million  votes,  out  of  a  total 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

of  between  ten  and  eleven  million  voters.  An  active 
minority  with  such  numbers  cannot  fail  to  be  influ- 
ential. It  is  on  principle  strongly  against  any  man- 
ifestations of  imperial  control  over  the  component 
twenty-six  polities  of  the  German  union.  For  a  strong 
imperial  policy  the  union,  however,  must  remain  su- 
preme. Statistics,  moreover,  prove  irrefutably  that 
socialism,  far  from  falling  off,  gathers  fresh  forces 
with  every  successive  election.  So  far  for  the  inter- 
nal conditions  militating  against  German  imperial- 
ism.    Let  us  now  extend  our  horizon  of  observation. 

Difficult  as  would  be  the  physical  obstacles  to  over- 
come in  building  an  Elbe-Trieste  canal,  they  are  not 
sufficient  to  daunt  the  modern  engineer;  the  political 
barrier  is  a  far  harder  matter  to  negotiate.  Germany 
is  cut  off  from  the  Adriatic  by  Austria,  and  it  is  any- 
thing but  probable  that  Austria  would  contemplate 
with  docile  equanimity  the  fulfilment  of  German  am- 
bitions. The  canal  is  the  one  remedy  which  will  cure 
Germany's  geographical  deformity  as  a  world-power; 
the  construction  of  such  a  canal  presupposes  the  down- 
fall of  Austria.  This  may  be  procured  in  two  or  three 
fashions,  but  it  is  uncertain  that  any  of  them  offers  any 
considerable  chance  of  success.  It  has  been  hazarded 
that  Austria,  owing  to  the  reigning  political  anarchy, 
would  be  incapable  of  showing  an  unbroken  front  to 
German  military  aggression.  But  is  not  this  sem- 
blance of  anarchy  liable  to  great  misinterpretation? 
Before  18G7  Austria  did  not  cause  the  politicians  of 
Europe  any  grave  anxiety,   though   threatening  dis- 

9,W 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GEKMANS 

ruptive  symptoms.  But  imder  this  superficial  calm 
lay  political  gangrene  and  stagnation.  Are  not  the 
frequent  crises  which  in  latter  days  have  shaken  the 
political  frame  of  Austria  wholesome  signs  which  in- 
dicate the  malady  of  the  patient,  but  also  his  capacity 
of  resisting  it  ?  Even  civil  war  is  not  by  any  means 
the  horrible  and  unqualified  evil  which  it  is  represent- 
ed to  be,  and  should  the  differences  of  Hungary  and 
the  Austrian  provinces  eventually  culminate  in  a  hos- 
tile encounter,  may  not  the  country,  as  a  whole,  come 
out  of  the  trial  saner  and  sounder,  as  have  the  other 
great  nations  of  modern  times  ?  The  seeds  of  French, 
English,  and  American  national  strength  have  all  been 
sown  in  civil  bloodshed.  But  to  return  to  the  thread 
of  our  argument.  Germany  will  probably  not  hazard 
a  warlike  venture,  which  might,  if  only  from  a  pure- 
ly military  point  of  view,  prove  disastrous,  until  she 
has  fully  essayed  pacific  means  of  attaining  her  end. 
These  means  are  twofold.  The  absorption  of  Ger- 
man Austria  into  the  German  Empire.  This  solution 
is  also  rich  in  improbabilities.  The  only  method  left, 
is  to  bribe  Austria  into  assent,  and  this  is  the  method 
which  might,  perhaps,  succeed,  for  Germany  could 
afford  to  pay  a  long  price;  but  Austria  is  wide  awake 
enough  to  be  well  aware  that  her  assent,  bribed  or  not, 
must  end  in  her  political  subjection.  Granted  that 
Germany  gains  eventually  access  to  the  northern  Adri- 
atic, what  sort  of  a  reception  may  she  not  expect  from 
her  Italian  rivals,  who,  as  we  have  shown,  are  in  a 
fair  way  to  become  arbiters  of  the  Mediterranean  ? 

237 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

Let  us  now  assume  that  Germany's  hypothetical 
designs  upon  the  Adriatic  have  failed  or  collapsed. 
We  have  shown  that  her  swiftly  augmenting  popula- 
tion must  find  an  outlet,  cost  what  it  may.  The  num- 
ber of  her  inhabitants,  now  some  fifty-seven  millions, 
will,  if  the  present  rate  of  increase  is  maintained,  soon 
become  overwhelming.  Germany's  almost  only  other 
means  of  finding  a  dumping-ground  for  her  surplus 
population  is  in  the  defeat  of  England  and  in  the 
seizure  of  her  rival's  colonies.  The  idea  of  England 
being  overpowered  on  sea  is  still  received  in  most 
quarters  with  an  incredulous  smile,  especially  by  those 
who  have  not  made  a  study  of  naval  history.  The  un- 
certainty of  naval  power,  however,  is  well  known  to 
those  who  have  really  gone  deeply  into  the  annals 
of  the  past.  Its  rise  and  downfall  may  be  the  mat- 
ter of  a  single  fight,  and  one  great  maritime  engage- 
ment may  prove  the  undoing  of  a  Power  which  de- 
pends for  its  existence  upon  the  sea.  An  army  may 
be  annihilated,  but  new  armies  can  be  got  together 
and  knocked  into  shape  in  a  comparatively  brief  time. 
A  fleet  cannot  be  improvised,  and  more  especially  is 
this  true  in  modern  times,  when  the  war-vessel  has  be- 
come specialized  into  something  entirely  different  from 
the  merchant-ship,  and  requiring,  to  maintain  its  effi- 
ciency, a  more  highly  trained  and  disciplined  crew.  It 
is  common  knowledge  that,  whereas  a  bluejacket  must 
go  through  a  course  of  education  covering  years,  a 
soldier  may  be  made  in  a  few  days,  or  can  be  spon- 
taneously developed  in  a  single  engagement.     What 

238 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GERMANS 

Bacon  in  his  Essays  has  said  of  sea-power  has  been 
little  modified  by  subsequent  experience.  We  quote 
his  famous  passage  in  his  own  words :  "  To  be  master 
of  the  seas  is  an  abridgment  of  a  monarchy.  Cicero 
writing  to  Atticus  of  Pompey  and  his  preparation 
against  Caesar,  saith,  '  Consilium  Pompeii  plane  The- 
mistocleum  est;  putat  enim,  qui  mari  potitur  eum 
rerum  potiri,'  .  .  .  And  without  doubt  Pompey  had 
tired  out  Caesar,  if  upon  vain  confidence  he  had  not 
left  that  way.  We  see  the  great  effects  of  battles  by 
sea.  The  battle  of  Actium  decided  the  empire  of  the 
world.  The  battle  of  Lepanto  arrested  the  greatness 
of  the  Turk.  There  be  many  examples  where  sea- 
fights  have  been  final  to  the  war;  but  this,  when 
princes  or  states  have  set  up  their  rest  upon  the  bat- 
tles. But  this  much  is  certain,  that  he  that  com- 
mands the  sea  is  at  liberty  and  may  take  as  much 
and  as  little  of  the  war  as  he  will.  Whereas  those 
that  be  strongest  by  land  are  many  times,  neverthe- 
less, in  great  straits.  Surely  at  this  day,  with  us  of 
Europe,  the  vantage  of  strength  at  sea,  which  is  one 
of  the  principal  dowries  of  this  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain,  is  great;  both  because  most  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Europe  are  not  merely  inland,  but  girt  with  the 
sea,  most  part  of  their  compass ;  and  because  the  wealth 
of  both  Indies  seems  in  great  part  but  an  accessory 
to  the  command  of  the  seas."  English  history  con- 
tains the  record  of  some  of  the  most  unaccountable 
and  almost  incredible  fluctuations  of  naval  power.  We 
need  only  recall  the  utter  discomfiture  of  the  English 

239 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

fleet  off  Cape  Henry  by  the  French  admiral,  de  Grasse 
(1781),  a  defeat  which  dealt  the  coup  de  grace  to  the 
British  dominion  over  the  American  colonies,  and  had 
as  immediate  sequence  the  capitulation  of  Yorktown 
and  the  close  of  the  War  of  Independence.  England 
was  no  longer  mistress  of  the  seas,  yet  after  the  lapse 
of  only  a  few  years  her  navy  had  regained  all  its  lost 
prestige,  and  was  able  to  achieve  brilliant  victories 
like  those  of  the  Nile  and  Trafalgar,  while  again,  a 
few  years  later — only  seven  years,  in  fact,  after  Tra- 
falgar— the  English  were  once  more  powerless  to  over- 
come a  few  improvised  American  ships  of  war.  We 
have  made  this  momentary  digression  in  order  to 
point  out  that  naval  power  alone  is  very  uncertain, 
and  the  result  of  a  struggle  upon  sea  is  even  more 
dubious  to-day,  after  a  long  interval  of  peace.  Eew 
commanders  to-day  have  ever  seen  anything  like  an 
actual  engagement,  and  when  the  theory  of  naval  war- 
fare comes  to  be  subjected  to  the  test  of  reality,  we 
may  likely  enough  discover  that  it  holds  as  many  sur- 
prises as  did  military  warfare  in  the  late  South- 
African  campaign. 

In  the  event  of  hostilities,  England  undeniably 
would  dispose  of  many  great  advantages.  She  would, 
in  all  probability,  be  called  upon  to  fight  in  her  own 
waters,  within  easy  reach  of  supplies.  The  morale  of 
her  crews  and  officers  should  be  splendid,  reposing,  as 
it  does,  on  long  traditions  of  victory  and  invincibility, 
and  the  value  of  a  good  morale  in  warfare  cannot  be 
placed  too  high.     The  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  the 

240 


SUCCESS   AMONG  GEEMANS 

people  would  be  immense,  conscious,  as  they  would 
undoubtedly  be,  that  the  hour  for  the  final  struggle 
for  life  and  death  had  come.  The  whole  nation  would 
be  ready  to  serve  either  with  body  or  with  money, 
and  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  England  could  be 
crushed.  It  is  very  possible  that  France,  in  the  event 
of  an  Anglo-German  rupture,  might  utilize  the  favor- 
able moment  for  advancing  her  own  designs.  Despite 
the  outward  signs  of  tranquillity  which  now  give  the 
German  provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  a  delusive 
semblance  of  resignation,  one  traveller  after  another 
during  the  last  few  years,  and  among  them  many 
worthy  of  the  most  implicit  confidence,  has  pointed 
out  that  the  rigorous  regime  by  which  Germany  has 
sought  to  de-Gallicize  her  conquests  is  an  unqualified 
failure.  It  is  said  that  the  eyes  of  all  that  are  left  of 
the  one-time  French  inhabitants  are  strained  upon 
the  Vosges,  from  beyond  which  they  still  hope  for  sal- 
vation. And  France  may  seem  to  slumber;  but  who 
knows  but  what  she  may  turn  the  right  moment  to 
account  to  heap  humiliation  upon  her  old  enemy,  and 
demand  the  restoration  of  the  Khine  frontier.  If  the 
terms  of  her  neutrality  were  rejected,  might  she  not 
throw  her  fleet  and  treasures  into  the  balance  against 
Germany?  The  present  amicable  relations  between 
France  and  England  may  ripen  into  a  communion  of 
interests. 

In  politics  the  moral  code  of  every-day  life  is  sus- 
pended. The  superficial  morals  under  which  political 
moves  are  cloaked  are  hypocrisy.    We  do  nothing  but 

is  241 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

formulate  what  has  been  acknowledged  upon  all  hands 
again  and  again.  Where  the  contracting  parties  are 
not  really  bound  together  by  mutual  interests,  no  con- 
vention can  be  of  long  or  sound  duration.  We  must 
not,  therefore,  be  misunderstood  when  we  state  that, 
from  the  standpoint  of  strict  politics,  Germany  has 
committed  a  sovereign  error.  It  was  her  political  cue 
to  clandestinely  give  succor  to  the  Boers,  to  prolong, 
as  it  was  in  her  power,  the  struggle  of  the  two  Kepub- 
lics  against  England,  and  to  maintain  in  them  a 
scourge  against  Britain  in  her  day  of  distress.  Be  it 
understood,  once  more,  that  we  speak  from  the  purely 
political  standpoint,  and  not  from  the  moral  view. 

We  may  conjecture  one  more  foreign  policy  for 
Germany  which  demands,  as  its  voluntary  or  invol- 
untary victim,  Holland.  It  is  a  policy  which  has  so 
many  prospects  of  being  carried  to  accomplishment, 
that  it  has  already  excited  the  liveliest  anxieties  in 
the  Netherlands,  where  more  than  one  book  has  been 
written  dealing  with  its  probable  lines  of  conduct. 

The  integrity  of  Holland  being  guaranteed  by  in- 
ternational convention,  any  armed  move  of  Germany 
against  her  would  at  once  furnish  the  other  contract- 
ing Powers  with  a  casus  belli.  It  is  exceedingly  im- 
probable that  Germany  would  risk  incurring  the  com- 
bined hostility  of  Europe,  but  she  is  at  full  liberty 
to  undermine  Batavian  liberty  with  diplomatic  instru- 
ments. The  constitution  of  the  German  Empire  fur- 
nishes it  with  admirable  machinery  for  increasing  its 
territory,  such  as  is  possessed  by  no  other  European 

242 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GERMANS 

country.  Should  France,  for  instance,  endeavor  to 
annex  the  Netherlands  in  spite  of  treaty  engagements, 
the  Netherlands  would  see  that  the  last  hour  of  their 
national  existence  had  come,  that  they  would  hence- 
forth be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  French  province, 
a  department  of  the  Bas-Khin.  When  Germany  adds 
a  new  State  to  her  Confederacy  the  case  is  different. 
The  new-comer  is  merely  enrolled  as  a  part  of  the 
Federation,  and  his  internal  economy  is  in  no  wise 
tampered  with.  Holland,  if  she  joined  the  Empire 
to-morrow,  might  retain  her  Queen,  her  internal  law 
and  constitution;  it  is  only  in  foreign  policy  that  she 
would  necessarily  be  compelled  to  follow  the  dictates 
of  the  Federal  Diet.  But  what  inducements  can  Ger- 
many hold  out  to  Holland  to  even  thus  much  sacrifice 
her  political  freedom?  In  all  such  agreements  there 
must  be  as  much  give  as  there  is  take.  Germany  would 
acquire  a  broad  and  important  seaboard,  and  the  Dutch 
colonies  would  become  Imperial  colonies;  but  what 
can  Germany  offer  in  return  ?  German  protection 
might  hardly  seem  a  sufficiently  satisfying  equivalent 
for  a  guaranteed  immunity  from  foreign  interference. 
All  that  Germany  can  do  is  to  offer  the  Dutch  a  suf- 
ficient pecuniary  compensation  for  their  accession  to 
the  Union,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  in  this  way  she 
might  be  successful.  We  must  remember  that  Ger- 
many could  afford  to  pay  a  long  price  for  a  purchase 
which  would  dispense  her  with  the  necessity  of  a  Euro- 
pean war. 

Of  German  commercial  enterprise  we  propose  to 
243 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

say  little  or  nothing,  save  that  it  should  not  appear  to 
be  such  a  bugbear  as  it  does,  when  small  industrial 
countries  like  Belgium  can  so  successfully  resist  its 
onslaught. 

It  is  in  the  higher  interests  of  humanity  quite  de- 
sirable that  the  type  of  civilization  which  the  Germans 
have  developed  during  the  last  four  centuries  should 
continue.  They  have  undoubtedly  succeeded  in  crea- 
ting, both  in  philosophy  and  in  one  of  the  great  arts, 
in  music,  works  of  imperishable  value.  It  would  be 
equally  impossible  to  deny  that  in  their  literature 
they  have  produced  in  Goethe,  Schiller,  Lessing,  and  a 
few  other  poets  and  writers,  intellectual  personalities 
not  unworthy  of  the  best  specimens  of  Hellenic 
thought.  As  Macaulay  used  to  say,  even  English 
literature  must  envy  Germany  for  her  Lessing,  and 
Goethe  is,  in  the  universal  opinion  of  all  students  of 
literature,  by  far  the  greatest  figure  of  modern  intel- 
lect. It  is  equally  well  known  that  the  steadiness  and 
systematic  completeness  of  German  work  cannot  but 
lead  to  a  more  rapid  progress  in  the  world  of  science ; 
nay,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Germans  alone  of  all  na- 
tions have  realized  the  idea  of  a  Republic  of  Letters. 
They  recognize  no  "  standard  work  "  and  no  authority. 
As  the  French  have  completely  demecliawalized  their 
social  life,  so  have  the  Germans  their  intellectual  life. 
In  Germany  the  youngest  scholar  is  quite  welcome  to 
combat  publicly  the  views  and  theories  of  the  oldest 
professor.  Neither  the  attacked  professor  nor  the  pub- 
lic regard  that  young  scholar  with  any  misgivings  at 

244 


SUCCESS   AMONG   GERMANS 

all.  As  an  outward  sign  of  this  truly  democratic  atti- 
tude in  the  Republic  of  Letters,  we  may  note  that  in 
German  books  of  science  or  philosophy  alone  authors 
are  quoted  without  any  title  whatever,  not  even  that  of 
Mr.,  let  alone  that  of  Dr.  or  Professor,  although  in 
private  life  no  nation  is  more  title-ridden  than  are 
the  Germans. 

These  preceding  remarks  are  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  great  qualities  of  the  Germans  in  intellectual 
pursuits.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  difficult  to  believe, 
judging  from  the  past,  that  the  Germans  will  ever  be 
able  to  mature  that  ideal  development  of  both  man 
and  woman  which  alone  can  be  considered  as  the  palm 
and  prize  of  the  highest  form  of  civilization.  The 
German  woman,  in  spite  of  many  a  great  national 
quality,  has  so  far  not  given  proof  or  hopes  justifying 
us  in  the  assumption  that  she  will,  in  her  proper 
sphere,  create  the  same  charm  of  graceful  idealism 
that  so  many  German  intellectual  men  have  succeed- 
ed in  creating  in  the  sphere  of  intellectual  idealism. 
More  serious  still  is  the  deficiency  of  the  Germans  in 
that  they  have  suffered  their  whole  political  and  too 
much  of  their  intellectual  life  to  be  officialized  and 
Byzantinized. 

Even  within  the  last  thirty  years  they  have,  outside 
Bismarck,  produced  not  a  single  great  political  person- 
ality. We  see  a  number  of  hard,  steady,  and  honest 
workers,  but  not  a  single  great  personality.  The  over- 
bureaucratization  of  nearly  the'  whole  of  intellectual 
life  in  Germany  leaves,  as  a  rule,  little  elbow-room 

245 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

for  the  growth  of  free,  untrammelled,  and  elastic 
forces.  The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten  that  Rome 
owed  her  greatness  chiefly,  as  does  England  in  our  own 
time,  to  the  great  number  of  men  who,  unfettered  by 
any  bureaucratic  routine,  devoted  all  their  strength  to 
the  great  political  and  social  problems  of  their  coun- 
try. Germany,  therefore,  runs  the  great  danger  of 
quickening  but  little  the  onward  march  of  women 
towards  the  ideal,  and  of  paralyzing  the  resources  of 
her  men  by  subjecting  them  to  an  excessive  bureau- 
cratism. 


XII 

BRITISH    SUCCESS 

The  English.  Their  women.  Their  men.  Education.  Intel- 
lectual activity.  Regime  (social)  of  castes.  Up  to  Eliza- 
beth, England  failed  in  her  attempts  at  imperialism,  both 
in  France,  and  in  Scotland;  not  so  in  Ireland.  After  the 
Tudors,  England,  chiefly  aided  by  her  geopolitical  situation, 
built  up,  by  colonization  and  conquest,  a  vast  empire  based 
on  sea-power  and,  in  modern  times,  on  rational  and  humane 
government  too.  Her  empire  lacking  territorial  continuity. 
Her  sea-power  exposed  to  serious  challenging;  as  has  been 
her  industrial  supremacy.  Her  civilization  will  always  be 
great  and  one-sided.  In  Europe  she  can  no  longer  be  um- 
pire. It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  sea-power,  now  coveted 
by  all  the  great  nations,  will  continue  to  remain  in  her 
possession. 

Our  attempt  to  sum  up  the  immediate  prospects  of 
England  and  America  is  by  no  means  novel,  although 
the  lines  upon  which  it  is  carried  out  may  have  some 
right  to  be  considered  novel.  The  books,  pamphlets, 
magazines,  and  newspaper  articles  which  have  ap- 
peared during  the  last  few  years  dealing  with  England 
and  America,  now  and  in  the  near  future,  are  num- 
berless. Although  we,  of  course,  cannot  claim  ex- 
emption from  mistakes,  we  may  at  least  venture  to  hope 
that  what  we  have  to  say  may  serve  as  a  complement, 
and  to  some  extent  as  a  corrective,  of  what  has  been 
said  by  foregoing  writers. 

247 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

During  the  last  few  decades  the  number  of  books  of 
travel  has  incessantly  multiplied.  Many  of  these 
books  no  longer  deal  with  remote  tribes  and  people, 
but  treat  of  nations  nearer  home,  and  with  whom  we 
are  in  daily  and  immediate  contact.  For  the  most 
part  these  books  are  of  little  practical  value.  They 
have  too  much  about  them  of  the  method  of  the  pro- 
fessional globe-trotter;  they  deal  almost  exclusively 
in  externals,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  dip  for  a  moment  be- 
neath the  surface.  It  may  very  well  be  possible, 
after  a  few  days'  sojourn  in  a  Samoyede  encampment, 
to  give  a  correct  and  detailed  account  of  all  the  Samo- 
yede nation.  Their  life  is  all  upon  the  outside ;  their 
actions  are  entirely  dependent  upon  natural  wants  or 
desires;  beyond  a  few  simple  barbaric  customs,  there 
is  nothing  to  observe.  We  cannot  approach  the  study 
of  a  modern  highly  civilized  nation  in  the  same  man- 
ner. A  few  weeks'  stay  in  a  London  hotel  or  travelling 
through  the  English  counties  would  not  permit  us  to 
estimate  so  complicated,  so  intricate  a  phenomenon  as 
the  English  national  character.  The  traveller  will,  no 
doubt,  have  been  struck  by  a  multitude  of  singularities, 
which  he  will  have  jotted  down,  and  which  he  can 
work  up  into  a  piquant,  racy,  and  amusing  volume; 
beyond  this  his  observation  does  not  go.  Many  of 
these  latter-day  books  of  travel  have  been  put  together 
by  foreigners,  who,  before  disembarking,  had  widely 
advertised  their  mission.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these 
unfortunate  people  have  ever  been  allowed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  getting  a  real  insight.     Their  model  has, 

248 


BEITISH   SUCCESS 

voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  assumed  a  pose  which 
they,  all  too  unconscious,  have  mistaken  for  his  natu- 
ral attitude.  The  result  has  been  a  series  of  national 
caricatures,  some  nattering,  others  the  reverse,  which 
may  be  exceedingly  amusing,  but  are  devoid  of  real 
value. 

The  essentials  upon  which  a  true  appreciation  of  a 
people  can  be  based  are  a  long  sojourn  among  them, 
not  as  a  wealthy  and  independent  stranger,  but  as  a 
participator  in  their  struggle  for  existence.  To  know 
a  people  well,  you  must  have  seen  them  in  good  fortune 
and  in  the  despair  of  adversity ;  you  must  have  fought 
against  their  men  and  against  their  women;  then, 
finally,  perhaps,  it  will  be  granted  you  to  penetrate 
behind  the  mask  of  conventionality.  Many  a  man  has 
struggled  for  life  in  foreign  countries,  many  have 
succeeded,  but  few  have  thought  fit  to  commit  their 
experience  to  paper.  In  many  instances  the  struggle 
has  resulted  in  the  extinction  of  their  own  national 
character,  and  they  have  not  preserved  about  them 
enough  of  the  foreign  atmosphere  to  enable  them  to 
stand  outside  their  subject.  A  foreigner  is,  as  a  rule, 
better  qualified  to  criticise  a  country  than  the  native ; 
he  has,  to  begin  with,  a  basis  of  comparison  on  which  to 
go,  for  without  comparison  how  shall  he  throw  into 
relief  the  peculiarities  and  idiosyncrasies  of  the  coun- 
try under  study  ? 

As  untrustworthy  as  the  accounts  of  the  passing 
travellers  are  the  judgments  based  on  tabulations  of 
statistics,  upon  demographical,   anthropological,   and 

249 


SUCCESS   AMONG    NATIONS 

other  so-called  scientific  formulations.  Of  what  is 
really  going  forward  in  the  soul  of  a  people  they  really 
tell  nothing.  We  could  give  numberless  examples  in 
support  of  what  we  have  above  stated.  We  will  limit 
ourselves  to  recalling  the  classical  instance  of  Arthur 
Young's  travels  through  France  (1787-88)  just  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  He  is  the  type  of 
the  well  -  informed  and  conscientious  traveller.  He 
spares  himself  no  trouble  in  collecting  details,  we 
might  almost  say  in  drawing  up  statistical  reports  on 
all  that  he  heard  and  saw;  nevertheless,  no  one  could 
have  been  further  from  suspecting  that  he  was  walk- 
ing upon  the  thin  crust  which  would  soon  be  shattered 
by  the  most  titanic  upheaval  the  world  has  ever  known. 
He  exemplifies  the  futility  of  judgments  founded  upon 
the  cursory  observations  of  a  rapid  journey,  however 
intelligent,  however  keen  an  investigator  is  the  travel- 
ler. With  long  sojourn  in  a  country,  moreover,  the 
student  must,  of  course,  combine  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  language,  and  should  likewise  be  well  acquaint- 
ed with  the  national  history.  The  past  annals  of  a  na- 
tion are  an  armory  from  which  may  be  taken  instru- 
ments to  explain  many  of  its  present  peculiarities. 

The  knowledge  of  a  country  means  for  the  most  part 
a  knowledge  of  its  men  and  women,  and  of  their  rela- 
tive stations  and  importance.  Of  the  young  English- 
man we  have  already  said  much.  We  have  watched  in 
his  school-days  the  precocious  development  of  his 
virility,  will-power,  and  independence,  due  princi- 
pally to  the  non-interference,  except  when  absolutely 

250 


BEITISH   SUCCESS 

necessary,  of  his  parents.  His  volitional  resources  are 
very  early  brought  into  play ;  as  he  advances  in  life  he 
will  find  his  will-power  impelled  by  other  puissant 
motives. 

If  there  is  one  thing  which  strikes  the  Continental 
mind  with  astonishment,  it  is  the  extraordinary  social 
distinctions  which  still  prevail  in  England.  In  his 
own  country  he  has  probably  lived  among  the  bour- 
geoisie, which  he  has  been  accustomed  to  regard  with 
pride  as  the  backbone  of  the  State,  to  which  he  himself 
belongs,  and  which  he  feels  no  desire  to  leave.  In 
England  he  will  also  find  a  commercial  middle  class, 
on  which  the  country  also  chiefly  depends ;  but  in  this 
middle  class  he  will  not  discover  the  same  pride  of 
position,  but  a  constant  yearning  to  be  free  of  its  sur- 
roundings. Small  trading  in  England  breeds  con- 
tempt, and  big  trading  fails  to  breed  respect.  Between 
nobility  and  middle  class  exists  another  social  layer, 
which  on  the  Continent,  if  it  exists  at  all,  is  exceed- 
ingly attenuated.  This  layer  considers  itself  to  be  the 
sole  repository  of  the  true  principles  of  honor,  of  the 
only  code  of  good  manners,  and  consequently  treats 
the  middle  class,  numerically  infinitely  more  exten- 
sive, if  not  always  with  active,  at  least  with  latent, 
contempt.  The  barrier  of  caste  is  inexorably  main- 
tained. The  middle  class,  on  the  other  hand,  suffers 
under  this  contempt,  which  it  apparently  recognizes 
as  justified,  in  that  it  does  not  rebel  against  it.  Self- 
respect  it  has  none;  the  words  shopkeeper,  retailer, 
trader,  all  have  in  them  a  ring  of  disdain  which  they 

251 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

themselves  are  the  first  to  detect.  It  would  seem  in- 
explicable that,  in  a  country  whose  greatness  is  built  up 
on  commercial  success,  the  commercial  classes  should 
not  have  succeeded  in  establishing  their  own  proper 
dignity.  On  the  contrary,  their  sole  ambition  is  to 
escape  from  their  own  social  connection,  to  disassociate 
themselves  from  commerce ;  and  this  is  their  prime 
motive  for  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  This  want  of 
self-respect  in  the  middle  class  results  in  its  isolation, 
the  middle  class  being  rarely  admitted,  and  then  only 
on  sufferance  and  out  of  interested  motives,  to  partici- 
pate in  the  pleasures  of  the  "  gentry."  Another  result 
of  this  want  of  self-respect  is  internal  division  among 
the  middle  class  itself.  Its  members,  never  knowing 
when  they  will  be  able  to  quit  their  surroundings,  dis- 
own their  acquaintances,  and  form  fresh  connections 
somewhat  higher  up  the  social  ladder.  To  those  who 
have  lived  for  any  time  in  France  the  difference  be- 
tween the  Continental  bourgeoisie  and  the  English 
middle  class  cannot  fail  to  be  especially  patent.  Let 
us  only  for  a  moment  consider  one  or  two  of  the  purely 
superficial  forms  in  which  it  is  reflected.  In  the 
every-day  manners  of  a  people  there  is  much  which 
is  instructive,  if  we  only  have  in  our  possession  the 
psychological  key  by  which  they  are  explained.  Who, 
for  instance,  would  dream  of  entering  or  leaving  a  shop 
in  France  or  Germany  without  taking  off  his  hat,  and 
without  some  words  of  greeting  ?  This  is  not  so  much 
a  sign  of  superior  Continental  courtesy  as  a  sign  of  the 
respect  in  which  the  Continental  bourgeois  holds  him- 

252 


BKITISH   SUCCESS 

self  and  expects  to  be  held.  Any  one  failing  to  observe 
these  rules  would  be  set  down  at  once  as  an  unman- 
nerly dog.  Then  turn  to  English  shops.  It  is  possible 
that  the  customer,  on  entering,  may  utter  a  brusque 
"good-morning";  should  he  bow  or  take  off  his  hat 
he  would  certainly  be  considered  an  eccentric  oddity; 
should  he  show  any  signs  of  wishing  to  shake  hands 
with  a  shopkeeper,  he  would  probably  seek  in  vain  for 
a  hand  to  shake,  and  he  would  assuredly  not  be  held 
in  any  regard  or  affection  for  having  so  far  demeaned 
himself.  These  are  but  a  couple  of  a  thousand  similar 
traits.  It  is  less  easy  to  see  why  the  English  trader 
should  acquiesce  so  readily  in  this  degradation.  Per- 
haps we  may  be  able  to  find  an  historical  explanation 
not  quite  unsatisfactory.  England  has  never  witnessed 
the  social  revolutions  which  for  centuries  tore  the  very 
vitals  of  France.  The  political  revolution,  the  only 
one  which  England  underwent,  had  no  appreciable 
effect  upon  her  social  conditions.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  English  cities  have  won  their  rights  and  liberties 
by  means  entirely  different  from  those,  for  instance, 
which  secured  the  privileges  of  the  communes  of  north- 
ern France.  The  chronicles  of  Amiens,  Abbeville, 
Laon,  Langres,  Nantes,  Rouen,  ISFancy,  tell  of  year 
after  year  of  carnage,  and  massacre,  battle  from  street 
to  street.  In  every  town  we  find  the  same  division 
between  a  bishop,  a  very  secular  person  as  a  rule,  and 
the  seigneur,  the  temporal  lord.  Between  their  inces- 
sant quarrels  the  bourgeoisie,  now  espousing  one  side, 
now  another,  and  always  aiming  at  its  own  ends,  was 

253 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

gradually  able  to  raise  itself  to  a  position  in  which  it 
could  no  longer  be  dictated  to  by  either  party.  This 
development  of  a  communal  bourgeois  is  not  by  any 
means  limited  to  France.  There  are  even  bloodier 
and  more  protracted  fights  in  the  great  Rhenish  cities, 
such  as  Bonn  and  Cologne.  Italian  city-states,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  grew  up  in  the  midst  of  unremitting 
struggles  and  bloodshed.  We  can  well  imagine  that 
liberties  achieved  at  such  terrific  cost  of  life  and  limb 
gave  the  new  free  citizen  a  pride  and  a  self-importance 
which  he  could  not  have  otherwise  come  by.  English 
burgess  liberties  have  been  acquired  in  a  very  different 
manner.  At  no  epoch  of  English  history  do  we  find 
the  land  studded  with  cities  each  filled  with  intestine 
strife.  There  are  no  quarrels  of  bishop  and  noble. 
When  liberties  were  granted,  charters  given,  it  was 
either  in  return  for  some  pecuniary  advantage  or  out 
of  the  good-will  of  the  overlord ;  they  have  never  been 
extorted  at  the  point  of  the  sword  and  at  infinite  per- 
sonal peril.  Is  it,  then,  a  matter  for  surprise  that  the 
English  middle  class  should  not  have  won  such  recog- 
nition at  the  hands  of  their  superiors,  as  the  Conti- 
nental bourgeoisie  has  only  been  able  to  obtain,  by  dis- 
playing its  own  capacity  for  proving  troublesome? 
We  would  not  insist  upon  the  exclusiveness  of  this  his- 
torical proof  of  that  debasement  of  the  English  middle 
class.  It  is  undoubtedly  more  than  a  mere  survival, 
and  there  must  be  other  concurrent  causes  which  must 
account  for  its  continuance. 

The  isolation  of  the  middle  class  has  had  far-reach- 
254 


BKITISH   SUCCESS 

ing  social  results;  the  solitude  of  the  English  young 
man  in  general  is  intensified  in  this  stratum  of  society. 
In  religion  it  has  produced  nonconformity  and  dissent 
of  all  kinds,  which  are  no  survival  of  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  century  Puritanism,  but  the  outcome  of 
contemporary  social  conditions.  The  preoccupation  of 
the  young  Englishman  for  ethical  questions  is  un- 
doubtedly caused  by  his  solitude.  His  emotions  must 
find  vent  in  some  direction,  and  as  most  of  the  other 
natural  channels  of  emotion  are  choked,  or,  at  any  rate, 
obstructed,  they  translate  themselves  by  a  religious 
semi-moralizing  vein.  In  no  country  do  religious 
questions,  although  equally  strong  or  even  stronger 
religious  convictions  exist,  find  such  eccentric  expres- 
sion as  in  England. 

Again,  English  wit  has  taken  a  form  elsewhere  com- 
pletely unknown.  It  has  adapted  itself  to  circum- 
stances. English  humor  is  excellent ;  it  is  also  charac- 
teristic of  the  nation.  To  the  Continental  mind  un- 
acquainted with  English  life  it  appears  absolutely  in- 
comprehensible. But  what  is  English  humor  almost 
invariably  based  upon  ?  On  false  position.  The  con- 
ditions of  English  life  lead  to  an  inordinately  large 
number  of  false  positions.  In  France  they  are  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  unknown,  the  distinctions  of  class 
giving  rise  to  no  misunderstanding.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  All  of  these 
countries  have  given  birth  to  excellent  wit,  without 
a  trace  of  real  humor.  What  the  English  middle 
class  lacks  in  social  respect  it  endeavors  to  compensate 

255 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

for  by  an  assumption  of  a  gravity  very  far  removed 
from  the  true  seriousness  inspired  by  a  sense  of  respon- 
sibilities and  dignity. 

We  thus  see  that  England  has  not  become  entirely 
demedirevalized.  We  must  not  be  construed  to  have 
viewed  all  English  life  with  jaundiced  eyes,  because 
we  point  out  that  many  of  the  class  barriers  of  the 
Middle  Ages  have  not  yet  given  way.  There  is  much 
that  richly  compensates.  If  some  of  the  medieval  bar- 
barisms remain,  there  has  also  been  retained  much  of 
that  indefinable  mediaeval  charm.  The  ideals  of  the 
gentleman  are  high,  and  he  is  surrounded  by  an  at- 
mosphere of  stately  grandezza  such  as  is  difficult  to 
find  elsewhere  in  an  age  of  hurry  and  rush.  He  still 
professes  unfailing  adherence  to  the  given  word,  and 
undying  hatred  of  untruths. 

Before  saying  a  few  words  upon  the  Englishwoman, 
we  would  like  to  remark  in  passing  that  the  mainte- 
nance of  primogeniture,  the  right  of  the  eldest  son,  has 
supplied  another  keen  incentive  to  English  energies; 
it  increases  the  number  of  men  who  must  carve  out 
their  future  by  means  of  their  own  resources. 

In  spite  of  her  frequently  rare  degree  of  personal 
beauty,  the  Englishwoman  has  not  been  the  important 
factor  in  the  history  of  her  country  which  the  French- 
woman has  been  in  France.  She  has,  as  a  rule,  been 
retiring,  engaging  man  through  her  sweetness  of  dis- 
position rather  than  by  qualities  playing  upon  deeper 
emotions.  Her  duty  as  a  child-bearer  she  has  carried 
out  as  behooved  her,  much  of  England's  greatness  hav- 

256 


BKITISH   SUCCESS 

ing  depended  on  a  constant  surplus  of  population.  The 
population  of  the  country,  despite  the  incessant  stream 
of  emigration,  has  risen  by  leaps  and  bounds  since  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  it  numbered 
some  fifteen  millions,  until  to-day  is  surpasses  that  of 
France.  As  a  rule  the  Englishwoman  seems  —  and 
here  she  is  probably  distinguished  from  her  Conti- 
nental sisters — more  attached  to  her  husband  than 
to  her  children.  With  the  latter  she  certainly,  in  the 
case  of  the  sons,  does  not  interfere  so  as  to  cripple 
their  personal  independence ;  she  does  not  superintend 
all  their  affairs,  as  does  the  French  mother,  nor  does 
she  exercise  over  them,  when  married,  the  irksome 
jurisdiction  of  the  French  belle-mere.  In  the  higher 
ranks  of  society  her  dignity,  graceful  restraint,  and 
distingue  manner  make  her  the  embellishment  rather 
than  the  nucleus  of  social  life.  Beyond  these  spheres 
the  Englishwoman  is  certainly  much  less  successful; 
she  is  no  business  woman ;  there  are  few  great  firms 
in  England  who  would  not  smile  at  the  idea  of  any 
personal  feminine  influence  being  exercised  upon  their 
direction;  although  a  woman  happens  to  stand  at  the 
head  of  one  of  the  greatest  London  banks,  she  is  an 
exception,  and  even  her  authority  is  for  the  most  part 
delegated.  But  that  a  woman  should  throne  it  in  the 
managerial  penetralia  of  a  city  office  would  seem  to 
the  Englishman  quite  as  incongruous  as  it  would  ap- 
pear natural  to  a  Frenchman.  The  title  Veuve  Cliquot 
in  France  appears  as  little  worthy  of  comment  as  a 
firm  trading  as  Mrs.  Bass  would  strike  the  English 
17  257 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

mind  as  absurd.  The  Englishwoman  has  apparently 
not  been  able  to  reconcile  the  role  of  a  business  woman 
with  her  natural  role  as  a  woman.  If  she  takes  to 
business  she  appears  to  become  def  eminized  in  the  act ; 
she  has  a  tendency  to  degenerate  into  Mrs.  Grundyism, 
and  thus  to  become  a  centre  for  the  propagation  of 
gloom.  However,  it  cannot  be  stated  that  the  defects 
just  mentioned,  while  conducive  to  much  cheerlessness, 
really  constitute  a  national  danger.  The  objectionable 
qualities  of  the  English  middle-class  woman  can  al- 
most all  be  traced  to  the  lack  of  self-respect  charac- 
terizing her  caste.  Whether  they  will  ever  be  remedied 
is  more  than  doubtful.  Social  respect  is  the  ozone, 
the  oxygen,  without  which  all  the  attempts  of  man  or 
woman  to  attain  a  complete  culture  must  be  stifled. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  that  ozone  can  be  distilled  from 
the  retorts  and  crucibles  of  higher  education,  read- 
ings, and  feminist  movements.  Is  it  not  generated 
alone  by  the  storms  of  a  social  revolution  of  which 
the  hour  for  England  is  irrevocably  past? 

In  another  place  we  have  spoken  in  some  detail  of 
the  success  of  England  in  the  past ;  we  have  endeavored 
to  lay  bare  some  of  the  causes,  geopolitical  and  other, 
which  have  contributed  thereto.  Of  the  prospects  of 
her  future  career  we  have  hitherto  said  nothing.  Un- 
doubted as  her  success  has  been  up  to  now,  can  we 
with  equal  confidence  predict  her  continuous  pros- 
perity in  time  to  come  ?  Does  the  present  drift  of 
English  policy  really  appear  the  best  means  of  se- 
curing such  future  prosperity?     Those  are  the  two 

258 


BRITISH   SUCCESS 

principal  questions  which  we  shall  now  bring  under 
consideration.  By  way  of  recapitulation,  we  would 
recall  to  the  reader's  mind  that  the  British  dominion 
forms  an  empire  sui  generis.  In  instituting  compari- 
sons between  it  and  other  great  empires  of  by-gone 
days,  it  is  necessary  to  proceed  with  the  utmost  pre- 
caution. The  comparison  is  bound  to  break  down 
upon  many  serious  points.  Between  the  British  Em- 
pire and  the  present-day  empires,  such  as  the  Kus- 
sian  and  American,  the  dissimilarity  is  so  obvious 
that  we  are  less  likely  to  be  led  into  error. 

It  must  be  ever  borne  in  mind  that  the  British 
dominions  comprise  two  very  distinctly  separate  cate- 
gories of  possessions.  There  are,  on  the  one  hand, 
countries  peopled  by  English-speaking  inhabitants, 
chiefly  emigrants,  or  the  descendants  of  emigrants, 
from  the  mother-country.  They  are  bound  by  the 
strongest  ties  of  sentiment  to  the  central  nucleus  of 
the  Empire,  from  which  they  do  not,  at  all  events  for 
the  moment,  show  any  tendency  to  fall  away.  Com- 
pared, however,  with  the  countries  under  British  rule 
populated  by  colored  tribes,  they  stand  in  an  almost 
insignificant  minority.  The  native  population  of 
India,  for  example,  would,  as  far  as  numbers  are 
concerned,  engulf  several  times  over  the  whole  of  the 
white  inhabitants  of  the  Empire. 

We  have  seen  that  the  growth  of  the  British  Em- 
pire was  induced,  or  at  all  events  facilitated,  in  past 
times  by  England's  unique  insular  position,  which 
permitted  of  her   assuming  a  role   in   international 

259 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

politics  peculiarly  advantageous  to  herself.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  England  was  the  power 
disposing  of  the  greatest  amount  of  available  capital. 
She  possessed  a  dominant  naval  power ;  and  on  the  sea 
no  country,  save  France  alone,  showed  even  an  am- 
bition of  disputing  her  power.  These  two  adjuncts 
rendered  her  an  estimable  ally,  and  she  was  able  to 
utilize  the  vacillations  of  European  politics  to  her  own 
profit.  Those  were  also  days  when  the  great  armies  of 
universal  conscription  did  not  as  yet  exist,  and  when 
forty  thousand  English  soldiers  thrown  in  the  balance 
on  one  side  or  another  might  very  well  turn  the 
fortunes  of  the  day.  Meanwhile,  England's  inter- 
national position  has  been  completely  revolutionized. 
Hitherto  she  has  been  geographically  and  politically 
an  island;  she  is  now  a  political  peninsula.  She  can 
no  longer  play  the  part  of  umpire,  and  she  can  no 
longer  disassociate  herself  from  European  disputes. 
Her  navy  is  no  longer  the  only  navy  upon  the  seas,  al- 
though it  may  very  probably  prove  the  most  powerful. 
The  great  European  Powers  have  drawn  heavily  upon 
their  treasuries  in  order  to  carry  out  their  great  naval 
programme.  Germany,  Italy,  Russia,  and  France  are 
each  possessors  of  considerable  and  highly  organized 
fleets.  From  the  military  point  of  view,  England  is 
now  a  negligible  quantity  upon  the  European  main- 
land, where  any  force  she  might  venture  to  land  would 
be  swamped  in  the  immense  national  levies. 

The  splendid  isolation  of  which  England  has  made 
so  proud  a  boast  is  no  longer  feasible.    She  can,  in  her 

260 


BKITISH   SUCCESS 

naval  construction,  with  difficulty  maintain  a  two- 
power  standard.  Alliance  with  a  Continental  Power  is 
a  matter  of  first-rate  necessity.  The  great  stumbling- 
block  to  such  alliance  is  British  imperialism. 

But  British  imperialism,  if  it  is  to  do  away  with 
all  prospects  of  foreign  alliance,  if  it  aims  at  rendering 
England  superior  to  Continental  amity  or  enmity,  will 
have  to  overcome  very  great  drawbacks.  Even  if 
these  drawbacks  are  surmountable,  it  is  open  to  grave 
question  whether  they  can  be  overcome  with  sufficient 
expedition  to  render  British  imperialism  a  substitute, 
or  at  least  a  workable  substitute,  for  a  powerful  Con- 
tinental ally. 

We  must  not  forget  that  British  imperialism  neces- 
sarily proceeds  upon  lines  very  different  from  Kussian 
or  American  imperialism.  This  is  a  matter  of  geo- 
graphical necessity.  America  and  Eussia  have  the 
immense  advantage  of  territorial  continuity  in  their 
possession.  The  British  dominions  are  scattered  broad- 
cast in  all  the  quarters  of  the  globe ;  they  are  difficult 
enough  of  protection  against  foreign  aggression; 
against  internal  dissension  they  are  powerless.  Their 
immunity  from  foreign  attack  depends  upon  the  thin 
thread  of  sea-power,  of  whose  strength  no  man  may 
judge.  No  home  compulsion  could  ever  succeed  in 
stifling  intestine  disruption.  We  have  seen,  by  the 
bitter  experiences  of  the  late  South  African  War,  at 
what  disproportionate  cost  England  can  alone  hope  to 
extend  her  rule  over  recalcitrant  white  people.  This 
disproportion  is  thrown  into  even  greater  relief  if  wc 

26X 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

reflect  upon  the  comparatively  insignificant  expendi- 
ture, of  both  money  and  men,  at  which  America  ac- 
quired her  formerly  Mexican  dominions,  or  even  the 
cost  of  her  victory  over  Spain  in  the  Cuban  War. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  there  are  at  the  moment  of 
writing  two  conflicting  policies,  both  animated  by  the 
sincerest  desire  to  procure  their  country's  welfare, 
struggling  to  place  themselves  at  the  helm  of  Britain's 
foreign  policy.  The  one  party  is  headed — unofficially, 
it  goes  without  saying — by  the  King,  and  aims  at  the 
continuance  of  British  prosperity  by  means  of  an  im- 
provement in  her  international  status.  The  other 
party  has  the  same  object,  but  seeks  to  obtain  it  by  a 
rigid  anti-foreign  policy  of  imperialism.  The  Empire, 
drawn  closer  together  by  the  bonds  of  a  fiscal  scheme 
extending  over  all  the  colonial  possessions  of  England, 
is  to  oppose  an  unbroken  front  to  the  Continental 
Powers  to  which  it  is  designed  to  prove  a  match. 
Which  of  these  two  parties  will  gain  the  upper  hand 
is  the  burning  question  of  the  day.  It  would  cer- 
tainly seem  that  the  King  pursues  the  wiser  and  more 
feasible  line  of  action.  No  student  of  history  can  for  a 
moment  doubt  that  international  agencies  have  for  the 
last  three  hundred  years  been  infinitely  more  im- 
portant in  every  European  country  than  have  agencies 
irrespective  of  international  Powers. 

With  the  greatest  tact,  and  with  his  characteristic 
lack  of  ostentation,  the  King  is  pursuing  the  traditions 
of  a  hereditary  policy.  He  is  knitting  together  the 
bonds  of  friendship  which  are  to  help  in  the  final 

262 


BRITISH   SUCCESS 

struggle,  which  must  inevitably  take  place  before  the 
colonies  are  ready  to  assist,  and  which  an  aggressive 
fiscal  policy  may  even  precipitate.  All  durable  and 
sound  policies  must  be  based  on  a  permanent  stratum 
of  mutual  advantage. 

There  remains  one  question  which  requires  a  few 
words.  Does  the  English  type  of  civilization  show  a 
likelihood  of  persisting  or  even  of  being  adopted  as  the 
type  of  civilization  of  the  entire  world  ?  Much  of  what 
we  have  said  in  previous  chapters  has  gone  to  show 
what  are  the  essential  differences  marking  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  English  and  other  Continental  types 
of  civilization.  We  may  be  allowed,  then,  to  sum- 
marize briefly.  We  have  seen  that  English  civilization 
is  productive  of  a  special  degree  of  virility;  that  it 
develops  a  genius  for  action  and  a  genius  for  poetry 
proper  such  as  in  youth  is  unknown  over  the  rest  of 
Europe.  With  all  this,  we  have  seen  English  civiliza- 
tion to  be  somewhat  one-sided.  It  has  least  of  all 
civilizations  contributed  to  all-round  perfection.  It  is 
the  civilization  of  the  specialist.  Thus  the  mass  of 
English  people  is  indifferent,  or  rather  almost  hostile, 
to  art  proper,  whether  in  manners,  words,  painting, 
sound,  or  marble ;  the  mass  is  indifferent  to  system  and 
general  ideas,  without  the  cultivation  of  which  com- 
plete civilization  is  impossible.  Those  qualities  are, 
however,  by  no  means  entirely  disadvantageous.  As  a 
complement  and  corrective  to  other  European  types  of 
civilization  they  are  exceedingly  valuable.  Many 
Continental  tendencies  of  thought,  enfeebled  by  lack 

263 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

of  vigor  and  virility,  have  been,  and  may  in  the  future 
be,  braced  up  to  greater  things  on  contact  with  English 
civilization;  their  laxity  in  the  consideration  of  facts 
and  their  tendency  to  prose  literature  may  be  checked. 
Thus  far  English  civilization  is  likely  to  be  successful 
in  its  spread.  But  the  ideals  which  have  been  put 
forward  by  Professor  Mahaffy  and  many  others  do  not 
show  any  probability  of  fulfilment.  The  minor  nations 
of  Europe,  it  has  been  hazarded,  may,  in  the  future, 
think  fit  to  adopt  the  English  language  and  English 
modes  of  thought.  Such  a  conversion  would,  no  doubt, 
result  in  very  great  economic  advantages  for  those 
nations;  it  is,  however,  too  Utopian  to  be  really 
seriously  considered.  England  has,  moreover,  hitherto 
not  displayed  any  marked  capacity  for  absorbing  the 
civilizations  of  other  white  peoples.  So  far  only  the 
Latin,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  the  Grseco-Latin 
civilizations,  have  proved  at  all  able,  in  the  realm  of 
culture,  to  exercise  real  powers  of  imperialism.  France 
has  in  this  manner  assimilated  much  more  than  Eng- 
land or  Germany.  Erom  the  international  standpoint, 
however,  it  is  infinitely  more  desirable  that  each  nation 
should  excel  in  one  or  more  branches  of  culture  rather 
than  attempt  to  attain  uniform  excellence  in  all.  Up 
to  now  no  nation  has  succeeded  in  becoming  a  general 
model  of  civilization,  and  no  nation  can  hope  so  to 
become  in  the  future. 


xni 

SUCCESS    IN    AMERICA 

The  Americans.  The  women.  The  men.  The  Americans  have, 
of  all  modern  nations,  the  greatest  chance  of  success,  eco- 
nomic or  material,  provided  the  Far  East  will  be  ready  to 
undergo  a  process  of  Europeanization.  Then  the  Amer- 
icans will  be  in  the  very  economic  centre  of  the  globe.  In- 
tellectual success  in  the  highest  sense  is  less  likely  in  Amer- 
ica, in  spite  of  the  immense  increase  in  colleges,  libraries, 
and  all  the  other  means  of  conveying  knowledge.  For  the 
highest  intellectual  progress  is  based  on  intense  person- 
ality, and  absolute  democracy,  which  pervades  all  the 
spheres  of  American  life  (not  as  in  Athens,  only  some), 
is  hostile  to  the  rise  of  intense  personalities  other  than  po- 
litical. Moreover,  American  women  have,  by  over-mental- 
ization,  weakened  their  powers  for  good.  What  a  nation 
wants  consists,  in  addition  to  a  good  geopolitical  position, 
mainly  and  exclusively  of  two  factors:  real  women,  who 
do  not  want  to  be  men;  and  real  men,  who  do  not  try  to 
be  women.  As  to  rule,  America  will  come  into  conflict  with 
Europe,  and  then  learn  a  wholesome  lesson.  The  true  trend 
of  history  is:  progressive  differentiation,  not  imperializa- 
tion  of  Europe;  progressive  unification  of  North  America. 
It  is  by  such  vast  contrasts  between  great  peoples  that  the 
highest  objects  of  civilization  are  secured. 

It  is  with  the  greatest  diffidence  that  we  begin 
our  remarks  respecting  the  Americans.  This  diffidence 
has  been  inspired  by  five  unbroken  years  of  sojourn  in 
the  United  States,  and  those  five  years  have  only  suc- 
ceeded in  confirming  the  impressions  received  on  the 
first  day  of  landing.     The  Americans  are  filled  with 

265 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

such  an  implicit  and  absolute  confidence  in  their  Union 
and  in  their  future  success,  that  any  remark  other  than 
laudatory  is  unacceptable  to  the  majority  of  them. 
We  have  had  innumerable  opportunities  of  hearing 
public  speakers  in  America  cast  doubts  upon  the  very 
existence  of  God  and  of  Providence,  question  the 
historic  nature  or  veracity  of  the  whole  fabric  of 
Christianity,  but  never  has  it  been  our  fortune  to  catch 
the  slightest  whisper  of  doubt,  the  slightest  want  of 
faith,  in  the  chief  god  of  America — unbounded  belief 
in  the  future  of  America.  The  habit,  which  is  common 
to  all  Americans,  of  lumping  all  the  countries  of  mod- 
ern Europe  together  into  the  half -contemptuous  name 
"  the  old  country,*'  has  at  last,  by  a  persistent  and  con- 
stant association  of  ideas,  filled  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  with  the  conviction  that  America  alone 
is  the  young,  the  fresh,  and  better-equipped  country. 
Europe  is  considered  to  be  an  agglomeration  of  na- 
tions of  petty  extent,  already  economically  effete,  and 
bound  within  a  very  short  period  of  time  to  collapse 
before  the  vigorous  onslaught  of  American  energy. 
One  circumstance  especially  strikes  the  stranger  newly 
landed  on  American  shores.  He  may  have  travelled 
through  France,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary,  England, 
but  nowhere  will  he  be  pressed  to  vouchsafe  an  opinion 
as  to  what  he  thinks  of  those  countries.  Immediately 
he  sets  foot  in  America  he  will  be  asked  how  he  likes 
the  country;  but  he  must  not  be  led  to  regard  those 
questions  as  anything  but  rhetorical,  for  nothing  but 
laudatory  statements  are  expected  in  reply. 

266 


SUCCESS   IN  AMEEICA 

To  speak  a  few  words  of  America  itself,  Peschel  and 
many  other  eminent  geographers  have  long  ago  proved 
that  the  American  continent  as  a  continent  is,  physio- 
graphically  speaking,  very  much  inferior  to  Europe. 
A  number  of  the  most  valuable  cereals,  as  well  as  other 
edible  plants,  the  vine,  etc.,  will  either  not  grow  there 
at  all  or  grow  in  very  restricted  quantities. 

Geopolitically,  it  is  certain  that  America  is  placed 
in  both  a  new  and  an  inferior  position.  If  there  is  one 
thing  which  follows  with  absolute  and  indubitable 
clearness  from  European  history,  it  is  the  fact  that  each 
nation  in  modern  Europe  was  made  infinitely  less  by 
its  own  spontaneous  efforts  than  by  the  necessity  of 
averting  the  hostility  and  aggression,  military  and 
otherwise,  of  its  own  immediate  neighbors.  Every 
European  nation  has  been  built  up  by  struggle  and 
fight,  and  the  great  countries  of  Europe  have  become 
great  not  owing  to  some  supposed  racial  excellence,  but 
simply  and  exclusively  as  the  outcome  of  the  struggles 
imposed  upon  them  by  their  geopolitical  position.  We 
might  compose  a  scale  of  European  grandeur,  and  it 
would  be  clearly  seen  that  those  peoples  which  have  had 
the  least  fight  to  maintain  themselves  stand  lowest 
and  have  made  least  progress.  Each  square  foot  of 
European  soil  has  cost  thousands,  not  to  say  hundreds 
of  thousands,  of  European  lives.  The  sweat  and  tears 
of  generations  have  fertilized  every  square  inch  of 
European  territory.  The  Union,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  been  placed,  ever  since  the  War  of  American  Inde- 
pendence, in  an  entirely  different  position.     The  geo- 

267 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

political  necessity  of  fight  for  every  rood  of  land  dur- 
ing centuries  has  never  existed  in  America.  Terri- 
tories such  as  in  Europe  would  have  taken  untold 
years  to  conquer  and  annex  were  acquired  by  the 
Union  in  a  few  months. 

To  sum  up,  the  Union  is  neighborless ;  no  enemy 
threatens  it  in  the  north,  no  enemy  threatens  it  in  the 
east,  none  in  the  west,  and  there  is  no  menace  of  im- 
portance in  the  south.  This  cardinal  circumstance 
differentiates  American  history  completely  from  Euro- 
pean history,  and  in  attempting  to  draw  any  analogy 
from  European  to  American,  or  from  American  to 
European  history,  the  utmost  caution  must  be  observed. 
The  reader,  remembering  the  importance  we  have 
attached  throughout  this  volume  to  fight  and  struggle 
against  enemies  as  the  formative  agent  of  historical 
progress,  will  ask  whence,  then,  comes  the  undeniable 
energy  so  characteristic  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  ?  In  reality  we  have  long  answered  this  ques- 
tion by  insisting  in  rapid  detail  upon  the  psychology 
of  the  foreigner.  The  Americans,  as  far  as  the  ma- 
jority are  concerned,  are  still  what  in  every  European 
country  would  be  considered  foreigners ;  that  is,  if  we 
leave  out  the  negroes,  the  mass  of  white  men  in  Amer- 
ica are  unable  to  trace  their  family  beyond  the  grand- 
father as  coming  from  American  stock.  Such  people 
in  Europe  still  rank  as  foreigners,  and  in  this  sense 
the  majority  of  Americans  are  foreigners,  and  still 
participate  naturally  in  the  characteristic  energy  and 
vitality  so  peculiar  to  the  foreigner. 

268 


SUCCESS   IN   AMERICA 

We  now  come  to  the  third  great  difference  between 
America  and  Europe,  and  that  is  the  American  woman. 
In  Europe,  despite  the  numerous  attempts  at  feminism 
— a  movement  which  might  be  more  aptly  termed 
defeminization  of  the  woman — the  woman  has  still 
kept,  with  more  or  less  success  and  grace,  her  position 
as  a  mother,  ruler  of  the  household,  and  wife — that 
domestic  trinity  which  is  the  chief  credo  of  her  life. 
In  her  attitude  towards  the  man  she  does  indeed  recog- 
nize that  he  is,  from  certain  points  of  view  of  the  social 
economy  and  of  social  ethics,  her  master,  and  the 
mastery  she  wants  to  exercise  over  him  she  naturally 
seeks  to  win,  not  by  superior  masterfulness,  but  by 
greater  grace  and  womanliness.  The  greatest  Euro- 
pean poets  have  long  typified  her  in  the  poetical  forms 
of  Penelope,  Marguerite,  Ophelia,  and  a  few  others, 
which  attach  man  both  physically  and  mentally  with 
an  unshaken  passion  by  means  of  the  most  naive 
womanliness  proper.  Had  Homer  made  Ulysses  fall 
the  victim  of  the  charms  of  Calypso,  or  had  Goethe 
made  the  love  of  Faust  a  haughty  hyper-educated  prin- 
cess, both  would  have  spoiled  their  masterpieces  for- 
ever. 

We  can  now  turn  our  attention  to  what  constitutes 
the  third  great  difference  between  America  and  Eu- 
rope. We  find  that  in  the  United  States  the  attitude 
of  woman  to  man  is  essentially  altered.  The  American 
woman,  especially  in  the  course  of  the  last  fifty  years, 
has  assumed  an  outward  tone  and  an  internal  attitude 
diametrically  opposed  to  what  it  is  customary  to  esteem 

2G9 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

feminine  in  Europe.  The  Old  World  naivete  of  Eu- 
rope appears  to  her  quite  out  of  date ;  the  retiring  dig- 
nity, the  restraint,  the  self-effacement  of  the  European 
woman  is  repugnant  to  her.  Her  ambition  is  to  win 
the  recognition  of  her  bright  intelligence;  she  likes 
to  pass  for  a  person  of  energetic  verve,  ready  at  a 
moment's  notice  for  action  of  every  description.  The 
incessant  craving  for  movement  has  taken  hold  of  her 
even  more  strongly  than  it  has  taken  hold  of  the 
American  man.  She  cannot  stand  being  stationary. 
We  have  often  heard  in  America  the  singular  remark 
that  the  Americans  are  attached  to  family  life.  The 
incredible  host  of  boarding-houses,  with  which  the  land 
is  eaten  up,  would  seem  but  a  poor  proof  of  that  state- 
ment. There  is  probably  little  exaggeration  in  saying 
that  the  burthen  of  latent  contempt,  heaped  by  the 
gentry  in  England  upon  the  middle  class,  is  in  Amer- 
ica heaped  by  woman  upon  man.  In  both  cases  we 
meet  with  the  same  passive  acceptance,  the  same  ab- 
sence of  all  spirit  of  revolt.  The  brighter  the  Amer- 
ican wife,  the  more  overwhelming  her  conversation,  the 
greater  her  anxiety  to  augment  her  knowledge,  the 
more  joyous  is  her  submerged  spouse.  He  is  proud 
of  her  superiority,  and  submits  thereto  unquestion- 
ingly,  not  to  say  with  satisfaction. 

But  the  evils  of  this  over-mentalization  of  the  Amer- 
ican woman,  of  this  hyper-galvanization  of  her  energy, 
are  now  no  longer  the  theme  of  foreign  inveighings 
alone.  Of  late  years  they  have  been  pointed  out  in 
condemnatory  spirit  by  American  women  themselves. 

270 


SUCCESS   IN   AMERICA 

It  must  indeed  be  feared  that  this  cultivation  of  a 
fierce  energy  is  beyond  the  role  of  woman,  and  bids 
fair  to  culminate  finally  in  her  absolute  physical 
breakdown.  It  also  misses  its  mark,  for  nothing  is 
shown  more  clearly  by  statistics  than  that  the  num- 
ber of  distinguished  women  workers  in  the  domains 
of  art,  letters,  and  science  is  small  compared  with  the 
number  of  brilliant  women  authors  and  women  paint- 
ers of  Europe.  We  cannot  fail  to  note  the  vast  dis- 
proportion between  the  all  but  frantic  passion  with 
which  the  humanities  and  arts  are  cultivated  in 
America,  and  the  number  of  successes  produced.  Even 
among  the  Americans  themselves  the  number  of  their 
really  great  women  is  confessed  to  be  exceedingly  re- 
stricted. They  have  not  yet  had  their  Sophie  Ger- 
main, their  George  Eliot,  their  Georges  Sand,  their 
Madame  de  Stael. 

One  of  the  most  serious  questions  which  clouds  the 
already  threatening  future  of  America  is  the  break- 
down of  American  maternity.  The  problem  is  of  too 
painful  a  nature  to  be  discussed  here,  but  statistics 
reveal  that  the  United  States  can  in  no  wise  depend 
for  its  future  prosperity  upon  the  offspring  of  its  own 
women.  We  speak,  of  course,  of  American  women 
bred  and  born.  The  recent  immigrant  does  not  form 
part  of  the  question.  But  it  is  already  well  known 
that  America  depends  for  the  increase  of  its  popula- 
tion upon  a  continuous  inflow  of  alien  immigration, 
without  which  the  population  would  already  be  cer- 
tainly stationary,  and  would,  in  the  future,  most  as- 

271 


SUCCESS   AMONG    NATIONS 

suredly  decline.  In  Europe  the  great  problems  have 
been  what  we  may  well  call  vertical  problems.  They 
have,  as  a  rule,  depended  upon  some  difference  be- 
tween the  upper  and  lower  strata  of  society.  Where 
these  differences  could  not  be  amicably  settled  they 
have  given  rise  to  social  revolutions.  In  America 
the  problem  is,  on  the  contrary,  horizontal;  it  is  the 
problem  of  the  antagonism  between  man  and  woman, 
and  cannot  be  solved  by  an  appeal  to  force.  Only  the 
educational  means  of  solution  remain,  and  these  offer 
the  most  dubious  prospects  of  success.  From  the  Euro- 
pean point  of  view,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  American 
woman  has  taken  up  her  whole  attitude  owing  to  the 
absolute  want  of  all  class  systems  in  America.  In 
Europe  the  triple  division  into  nobility,  bourgeoisie, 
and  peasantry  gives  the  woman  her  distinct  sphere  of 
action,  mental  and  moral ;  in  America,  there  being  no 
such  class  division,  the  woman  has  lost  all  powers  of 
social  perspective.  She  is  rooted  upon  no  broad  basis 
whatever ;  she  has  no  concrete  foundation  beneath  her 
feet,  and  it  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  most  problematical 
whether  education  can  furnish  that  basis — that  sense 
of  position  without  which  woman  is  incapable  of  find- 
ing her  social  bearings.  It  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to 
offer  any  solution  of  this  grave  and  immense  problem. 
Many  a  State  has  been  brought  to  ruin  by  its  women. 
The  Spartan  married  woman,  a  typical  example  of 
feminism  in  the  worst  sense,  certainly  contributed  as 
much,  or  more,  to  the  downfall  of  her  country  as  did 
the  lietceroe  to  the  collapse  of  Athens. 

272 


SUCCESS   IN   AMEEICA 

We  have  now  to  consider,  if  somewhat  rapidly,  the 
salient  characteristics  of  the  American  man.  It  is 
needless  to  show,  having  pointed  out  as  we  have  the 
three  fundamental  differences  which  must  of  necessity 
render  every  organ  of  American  social  life  distinct 
from  that  of  Europe,  that  the  American  man  differs 
essentially  from  the  European  man.  His  energy  and 
push  are  well  known;  his  readiness  for  constant 
change,  his  quickness  in  grasping  practical  facts,  his 
eagerness  in  collecting  knowledge — these  are  general 
and  certain  facts.  If  the  American  is  un-European,  he 
is  certainly  to  a  far  higher  degree  un-English;  this 
is  already  marked  by  his  un-English  love  of  system 
and  method.  He  has  the  deepest  respect  for  knowl- 
edge; we  know  it  from  the  immense  sums  of  money 
lavished  in  America  upon  educational  benefaction ;  we 
know  it  from  the  crowds  of  American  students  who 
flock  east  to  fill  the  German  universities.  Erom  Ger- 
many the  American  has  imported  much  of  the  Ger- 
manic systemization  of  learning ;  he  has  brought  home, 
and  to  some  degree  acclimatized,  the  German  scientific 
monograph.  His  passion  for  ordered  system  is  borne 
out  in  the  immense  output  of  bibliographical  publica- 
tions, and  the  elaborate  indexes  which  accompany  ev- 
ery work  with  the  slightest  pretence  to  serious  interest. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  American  man  is  lacking  in 
natural  completeness.  We  may  say  that  each  nation 
has  the  women  it  merits;  the  Americans  have  been 
unable  to  create  that  form  of  womanhood  which  in 
Eur6pe  is  esteemed  best.    The  American  consequently 

is  273 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

lacks  many  of  the  influences  which  snch  women  alone 
can  bring  to  bear.  His  development  is  far  too  rapid ; 
he  springs  into  manhood  far  too  quickly,  and  jumps 
out  of  it  again  with  too  great  rapidity.  This  same 
rapidity  characterizes  all  his  doings.  His  patience, 
even,  is  rapid;  it  is,  as  Alphonse  Karr  has  so  wittily 
said,  immense  "  mais  pas  pour  longtemps."  To  sum- 
marize, he  lacks  that  great  regulator  of  our  inner 
steadiness,  a  well-balanced  emotional  life;  and  this 
renders  him  incapable  of  applying  all  his  heart  or  all 
his  intellect  to  any  one  thing  for  any  considerable 
time.  He  is,  indeed,  sensation-ridden  to  an  extreme, 
and  his  individuality  is  not  well  developed. 

This  latter  affirmation,  we  are  well  aware,  cannot 
fail  to  be  most  indignantly  combated  by  some  Amer- 
icans. It  is,  however,  to  the  impartial  observer,  quite 
clear  that  two  types  alone  have  developed,  and  can 
possibly  develop,  in  the  United  States — the  politician 
and  the  commercial  man.  Literature  is  the  make  of 
intense  personalities,  and  it  is  to  the  lack  of  such  per- 
sonalities, and  not  to  the  youth  of  the  Union,  that 
America's  failure  to  accomplish  great  things  in  art 
and  letters  is  due.  It  is  also  exceedingly  doubtful 
whether  a  nation  having  no  native  language  of  its 
own  can  rise  to  a  first  place  in  literature.  As  Aus- 
tria has  not  surpassed  Germany  in  letters,  as  Scot- 
land has  not  surpassed  England,  so  America  has  not 
surpassed  Europe. 

We  have  pointed  out  the  three  great  differences 
which  forever  mark  the  Americans  as  a  nation  apart. 

274 


SUCCESS   IN   AMERICA 

It  must  have  been  clear  to  the  reader  that  these  are 
not  the  peculiarities  of  a  supposed  Anglo  -  Saxon 
"  race,"  but  the  outcome  of  the  particular  circum- 
stances under  which  the  American  nation  and  civili- 
zation have  developed.  In  many  respects  the  Amer- 
icans are  more  antipathetic  to  England  than  to  the 
rest  of  Europe — a  fact  to  which  we  shall  revert  in 
considering  the  political  prospects  of  America.  For 
once  and  all  the  reader  must  sacrifice  the  theory  of 
race  with  which  all,  or  almost  all,  the  modern  pop- 
ular works  on  history  are  indissolubly  blended.  Amer- 
ica, we  have  seen,  owes  infinitely  more  to  the  constant 
influx  of  foreigners  than  to  any  supposititious  strain 
of  semi  -  Teutonic  blood  among  its  original  settlers. 
The  absence  of  individuality  is  due,  not  to  the  un- 
original character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — England 
certainly  cannot  be  said  to  be  deficient  in  strong  per- 
sonalities— but  to  the  complete  isolation  in  which 
America  finds  herself  from  all  hostile  foreign  inter- 
ference. It  would  be  easier  for  America  to  establish 
a  filial  relation  with  any  other  European  nation  than 
to  maintain  her  cousinship  with  the  English.  Per- 
haps, save  for  the  chance  identity  of  language,  no  two 
nations  are  more  absolutely  and  irreconcilably  dis- 
similar* than  are  the  Americans  and  the  English. 

Let  us  pass  on,  now  that  we  have  pointed  out  the 
principal  social  features  of  America,  to  a  very  brief 
consideration  of  what  may  possibly  await  her  upon 
her  political  career. 

The  ever-increasing  exploitation  of  the  Far  East, 
275 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

the  rapid  rise  of  the  Japanese  to  the  position  of  a 
first-class  naval  and  industrial  Power,  the  awakening 
of  the  Chinese  from  their  recluse-like  slumber  of  two 
thousand  years  to  fresh  economic  activity,  which  is 
now  confidently  predicted,  are  circumstances  which 
may  profoundly  modify  the  present  political  geogra- 
phy of  the  globe.  America  will  certainly  be  the  first 
country  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  change.  She  will 
be  in  very  much  the  same  position  in  which  England 
stood  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century;  that  is  to 
say,  she  would  become  the  centre  of  all  the  economic 
movements  of  the  world — of  a  world  much  more  ex- 
tensive than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Columbus,  and  of 
far  keener  commercial  activities.  America  would  be- 
come the  focus  of  trade — very  possibly  she  might,  with 
rising  prosperity,  become  the  focus  of  the  hatred  of 
many  rivals — a  hatred  which  would  save  her  from  the 
intellectual  stagnation  which  we  have  seen  to  be  the 
invariable  concomitant  of  riches  which  have  been  easi- 
ly won  without  struggle  or  strife.  We  see  in  this 
that  America  would  certainly  have  greater  reasons  for 
incurring  the  enmity  of  England,  whose  geopolitical 
position  would  be  vastly  impaired  by  the  increasing 
welfare  of  America.  We  should  then  have  additional 
proof  of  how  easily  the  fictitious  bond  of  consanguin- 
ity would  be  broken  asunder  when  real  and  tangible 
interests  come  into  play.  England  would  be  opposed 
to  America  both  in  the  Atlantic  and  in  the  Pacific. 
The  same  struggles  that  England  had  to  sustain  against 
Holland,  France,  and  Spain,  America  will  have  to 

276 


SUCCESS   IN   AMERICA 

sustain  upon  a  far  grander  scale.  When  Panama  be- 
comes the  centre  about  which  the  whole  world  gravi- 
tates, America,  we  may  be  convinced,  will  not  be  left 
to  enjoy  the  possession  o*f  the  isthmus  in  peace,  and  to 
reap  therefrom  advantages  at  the  cost  of  all  the  other 
European  Powers.  We  have  at  all  times  insisted  upon 
the  futility  of  all  calculations  in  history  based  upon 
numbers  to  the  disregard  of  quality,  but  what  would 
be  the  result  for  America  of  a  struggle  in  which  she 
would  have  to  face  the  confederate  quality  and  four 
hundred  million  inhabitants  of  Europe?  It  is  only 
after  a  secular  war  against  Europe,  the  course  of  which 
would  profoundly  modify  the  whole  American  char- 
acter, that  America  could  hope  to  win  her  independ- 
ence from  European  dictation. 

After  the  somewhat  adverse  criticisms  which  we 
have  passed  upon  much  that  is  American,  we  hope 
that  we  have  at  least  established  our  claim  to  per- 
fect sincerity,  and  our  readers  will  certainly  give  us 
credit  for  speaking  the  truth  when  we  say  that  we  are 
of  opinion  that,  despite  her  serious  drawbacks,  Amer- 
ica has  solved  ideals,  moral  and  social,  which  Euro- 
pean nations  have  in  vain  endeavored  to  attain.  Many 
of  the  popular  myths  which  are  in  Europe  substituted 
for  a  true  knowledge  of  the  American  character  are 
most  hopelessly  incorrect.  Perhaps  the  most  character- 
istic of  all  the  current  legends  attaching  to  the  Amer- 
ican is  the  legend  of  the  almighty  dollar.  In  Europe 
it  is  currently  supposed  that  all  the  five  senses  of  the 
American  are  concentrated  to  form  a  sixth  sense — the 

277 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

sense  of  dollar-grabbing.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  truth.  Years  of  residence  in  America  have 
convinced  us  of  the  fact  that  while  America  is  no 
doubt  the  country  where  most  money  is  earned,  it  is 
probably  the  country  where  least  value  is  really  at- 
tached to  money.  Wealth  raises  up  no  spiked  rail- 
ings of  social  distinction,  and  generosity  is  perhaps 
more  general  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  world. 
Money  is  easily  acquired,  and  in  the  acquisition  of 
money  alone  does  American  talent  find  the  outlet 
which  it  cannot  find  in  artistic  and  literary  channels. 
There  is  a  general  atmosphere  of  urbanity  and  hospi- 
tality pervading  the  whole  land,  which  is  delightful 
to  the  stranger  fresh  landed  from  Europe ;  this  atmos- 
phere is  far  more  real  and  far  more  genuine  than 
anything  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in  the  Old  World. 
To  what  is  it  to  be  attributed?  Of  course,  we  must 
take  the  negative  side  of  the  question  into  considera- 
tion. The  social  palisades  within  which  most  Euro- 
pean households  are  doubly  and  triply  intrenched  are 
non-existent;  there  is  no  pride  of  caste  which  fences 
about  the  access  to  a  house,  and  a  stranger,  provided  he 
makes  himself  liked,  may  very  well  be  asked  anywhere. 
This  is  the  rosy  side  of  democracy.  But  what  is  the 
true  cause  of  this  general  urbanity  and  good-fellow- 
ship ?  Is  it  not  in  great  part  due  to  the  preponderance 
of  the  foreign  element  ?  All  that  is  comparable  to  it  in 
Europe  we  find  in  summer  watering-places,  and  in 
places  where  strangers  are  gathered  together.  Here 
for  a  while  an  artificial  atmosphere  of  contentment, 

278 


SUCCESS   IN   AMEEICA 

freedom  from  care  and  from  restraint,  is  created,  and 
people  make  the  best  of  one  another,  without  too  deep 
a  regard  for  all  the  little  social  bolts  and  bars  which 
separate  them  in  normal  times.  This  is  the  prevailing 
atmosphere  of  America.  The  freedom  of  the  American 
woman  also  supplies  another  undoubted  charm  to 
American  life,  although  we  have  seen  at  what  a  heavy 
price  that  charm  is  purchased. 

The  reader  may  have  gathered  what  our  opinion 
is  about  any  future  Americanization  of  Europe,  an 
idea — fantastic  and  absurd  as  it  may  appear  in  the 
eyes  of  the  citizens  of  the  Old  World — that  is  preva- 
lent in  the  iSTew  World.  It  is  difficult  for  the  Euro- 
pean to  enter  sufficiently  into  the  American  frame  of 
mind  to  have  any  conception  of  what  is  the  real  Amer- 
ican mental  attitude  towards  Europe.  The  American 
looks  upon  the  great  European  Powers  very  much  in 
the  same  way  as  we  Europeans  look  upon  the  minor 
States  of  the  Balkan  peninsula.  He  cannot  conceive 
that  Europe,  unless  federated  into  a  kind  of  United 
European  States,  should  be  able  to  offer  any  resistance 
to  American  onslaughts.  He  has  no  idea  of  the  indi- 
viduality, and  hence  vitality,  of  every  country  of  mod- 
ern Europe,  much  less  does  he  see  that  this  individual- 
ization of  the  various  parts  of  Europe  is  an  increasing, 
and  not  a  decreasing,  phenomenon,  and  that  by  means 
thereof  Europe  will  only  increase  in  strength.  jSTone 
of  the  countries  of  modern  Europe  can  be  said,  when 
taken  separately,  to  have  achieved  complete  success,  but 
their  individual  successes  combined  together  build  a 

279 


SUCCESS   AMONG   NATIONS 

perfect  and  invincible  whole.  Europe  as  a  whole  has 
been  completely  successful.  The  lesser  nations,  such 
as  Bulgaria,  Servia,  Denmark,  and  Roumania,  are 
asserting  more  and  more  loudly  every  day  their  claim 
to  be  considered  as  independent  units.  Those  claims 
will  not  be  crushed  and  overwhelmed  by  the  wave  of 
imperialism  which  is  now  passing  over  Europe.  Should 
the  great  Powers  endeavor  to  grind  them  into  sub- 
servience, Europe  may  again  see  a  repetition  of  its 
Platsea  and  its  Salamis.  We  may  confidently  predict 
that  these  minor  nations  will,  in  the  near  future,  win 
recognition  among  the  other  great  countries  of  Europe, 
and  that  they  will  develop  independent,  new,  and 
complex  types  of  civilization. 

We  cannot  deny  that  a  close  study  of  American 
history  and  of  American  institutions  inspires  us  with 
far  more  apprehension  as  to  a  sound  development  of 
America  in  the  future,  than  with  fear  for  the  fortunes 
of  Europe.  The  path  of  America  is  strewn  with 
stumbling-blocks  which  it  will  require  her  utmost  in- 
genuity to  circumvent  or  to  surmount. 


INDEX 


Aahmes   papyrus,    contents   of 
the,  4. 

Abbeville,  internal  quarrels  of, 
253. 

Abydos  added  to  Venetian  do- 
minion, 65. 

Achaia   incorporated  with  Ro- 
man Empire,  56. 

Acre,  conquest  of,  64. 

Aden  as  guard  to  the  Red  Sea, 
80. 

Adriatic,  Germany's  designs  on 
the,  232,  235. 

iEgina   added   to  Venetian   do- 
minion, 65. 

JCschylus,  patriotism  of,  31. 

Agnadello,  Venetian  defeat  at, 
69. 

Ahmedabad  conceded  to  Great 
Britain,  76. 

Akbar,  76. 

Alberti,  Leon  Battista,  114. 

Albuquerque,  explorer,  71. 

Alexander  the  Great,  the  con- 
quests of,  46-51. 

Alexius,  Byzantine  Emperor, 
63. 

Almeida,  achievements  of,  71. 

Alphabet,  the,  importance  and 
origin  of,  41-43. 

Alsace  and  Lorraine,  France's 
lost  possessions  of,  194,  241. 

Ambovna,  massacre  of  English 
by  Dutch  at,  76. 

America,  effect  of  Calvinism  in, 
124;  evil  effect  of  over-men- 
talization,  L62;  uniformity  of 
civilization  in,  209;  discussed 


absolute  confidence  in  her  suc- 
cess, 265;  geographical  posi- 
tion of,  267;  influence  of  the 
foreigner  in,  268;  American 
women,  269;  their  attitude  to 
man,  269;  question  of  mater- 
nity, 271;  the  American  man, 
273;  dissimilarity  to  England, 
275;  political  aspect  of,  275; 
money-making  capacity,  277; 
freedom  from  class  restraints, 
279;  their  contempt  of  Euro- 
pean powers,  ib. 

Amiens,  disturbances  of,  253. 

Amyutas,  King,  58. 

Anacalypsis,  by  Godfrey  Hig- 
gins,  152. 

Ancona,  37. 

Andros  added  to  Venetian  do- 
minion, 65. 

Angelo,  Michael,  39. 

Antiochus,  his  concessions  to 
Rome,  55,  56. 

Antonius,  M.,  conquests  of,  for 
Roman  Empire,  57,  58. 

Apuleius,  works  of,  90. 

Arabia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 58. 

Arezzo  at  war  with  Florence, 
38,  114. 

Aristotle,  Alexander's  opinion 
of,  51;  philosophy  of,  99; 
science  of,  102;.quoted,  114. 

Armada,  stimulating  effect  on 
England  of  the  destruction  of 
the,  176. 

Armenia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 58. 

581 


INDEX 


Arminius,  Varus  defeated  by, 
58. 

Art,  Egyptian,  7;  Carthaginian, 
10;  Mexican,  14;  Peruvian, 
19;  conditions  favorable  to 
the  cultivation  of,  21;  Roman, 
34;  Dutch,  73;  definition  of, 
discussed,  S3;  Grecian,  85. 

Ascension,  naval  importance  of, 
80. 

Asia  Minor,  conquered  by  Alex- 
ander, 47;  Germany's  designs 
on,  235. 

Assyria,  Tyre  and  Sidon  con- 
quered by,  27. 

Athens,  civilization  of,  con- 
sidered, 27-32. 

Attalus,  King  of  Pergamum,  56. 

Augustus,  58. 

Aurungzeb,  death  of,  77. 

Austerlitz,  Russian  losses  at, 
211. 

Australia,  England's  colony  of, 
81. 

Austria,  necessity  of  royalty  to, 
196;  Germany's  policy  tow- 
ards, 236. 

Azevedo,  Rodriguez  de,  one  of 
the  first  members  of  the 
Jesuits,  127. 

Aztec  civilization,  14-18. 

Babu,  effects  of  over-intellectual- 
ity on  the,  113. 

Babylonia,  civilization  of,  2; 
considered,  9;  Athens  com- 
pared with,  28;  fall  of,  46,  48, 
58;  imperfection  of  its  art, 
86. 

Bacon,  lack  of  moral  courage, 
130, 150;  quoted  on  sea-power, 
239. 

Bailli  de  Suffren,  his  engage- 
ments against  the  English,  77. 

Baku,  petroleum  wells  of,  213. 

Bakunin,  erroneous  teaching  of, 
210. 

Barak,  his  victory  over  the 
Canaanites,  26. 

Barbarossa,  Emperor,  defeated 
at  Legnano,  117. 


Basle,  unsuccessful  Catholic 
council  at,  146. 

Batavia  acquired  by  the  Dutch, 
72. 

Batu,  conquests  of,  60. 

Baur,  Ferdinand,  on  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 154. 

Belgium,  244. 

Belvedere  Apollo,  beauty  of,  84. 

Bermuda  Islands,  British  posses- 
sions in,  80. 

Bessus,  Darius  killed  by,  48. 

Bethlehem,  132. 

Bianchi,  their  quarrels  with  the 
Neri,  39. 

Bismarck,  character  of,  108; 
attitude  towards  Papacy,  141, 
245. 

Bizerta,  French  naval  base  at, 
79. 

Bobadilla,  one  of  the  first  mem- 
bers of  the  Jesuits,  127. 

Boccaccio,  39. 

Bceotia,  agricultural  prosperity 
of,  29. 

Boer,  effect  of  Calvinism  on  the, 
125;  characteristics  of  the, 
133;  Germany's  encourage- 
ment of  the,  242. 

Bokhara,  fate  of,  at  the  hands  of 
Mongolian  conquerors,  60. 

Bonn,  internal  disturbances  of, 
254. 

Borgias,  the,  115. 

Borodino,  Russian  losses  at  the 
battle  of,  211. 

Bourgeoisie.     See  Middle  class. 

Boutmy,  Professor,  his  estimate 

of  English  character,  110. 
British   Empire,   magnitude   of, 
72;   rise   and   growth   of   her 
Indian    Empire,    76-78;    her 
colonial    policy,   78-82.      See 
England. 
Brunhes,  M.,  on  Spanish  irriga- 
tion, 172. 
Buddhism,  124. 
Bulgaria,  progress  of,  2S0. 
Bunsen,  scientific  investigations 
of,  101. 


282 


INDEX 


Burnouf,  his  research  in  cunei- 
form writings,  9. 

Bussy,  his  opposition  to  English 
advance  in  India,  77. 

Buthrotum,  defeat  of  Normans 
off,  63. 

Bythynia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 56. 

Byzantine  Empire,  63;  at  war 
with  Venice,  64;  fall  of,  65. 

Cabral,  discoverer  of  Brazil,  71. 
Caesar,  writings  of,  35;  conquests 

of,  57. 
Calicut,  Vasco  da  Gama's  voy- 
age to,  70. 
Calvin,  influence  of,   124,  125; 

personality  of,  167. 
Calvinism  considered.  124,  150. 
Cambay  conceded  to  Great  Bri- 
tain, 76. 
Camel,  Pater  C.  J.,  the  Camelia 

named  after,  131. 
Campaldino,  battle  of,  38. 
Canada,  England's  colony,  81. 
Canossa,  Henry  IV.'s  submission 

to  the  Pope  at,  141. 
Cape,  the  passage  to  the  East 

round,   70;   added   to    Dutch 

dominion,  72. 
Cape   Henry,   English   defeated 

off,  210." 
Caprona,  the  assault  of,  38. 
Caria  added  to  Roman  Empire, 

56. 
Carlo  Teno,  Venetian  admiral, 

66. 
Carthage,  art  and  commerce  of, 

considered,   10-12;   war  with 

Rome,  55;  fall  of,  56. 
Carthusians     founded     by     St. 

Bruno,  135. 
Cato,  Cyprus  conquered  by,  57. 
Caucasus,  Russian  policy  in  the, 

212. 
Cautio  Criminalis,  bv  Frederick 

Spee,  130. 
Ceylon  acquired  bv  the  Dutch, 

72. 
Chseronea,    Roman    victory    at, 
56. 


Champollion,  F.  de,  Egyptolo- 
gist, 3. 
"Chanson  de  Roland"  criticised, 

97. 
Charles    of    Austria,    archduke, 

quoted  on  France,  178. 
China,   civilization    of,   3;    con- 
sidered, 12,  13,  58,  59;  Rus- 
sia's policy  in,  216. 
Chioggia,    Genoa    defeated    b}^ 

Venice  at,  66. 
Chios  seized  by  Vitale  Michieli, 

64. 
Cholulu,  ancient  temple  of  the 

Aztecs,   14. 
Christianity   and   the    Christian 
Church    in    the    Three    First 
Centuries,  154. 
Christianity,   founding  of,   135; 

considered,  149-167. 
Cimabue,  the  conditions  of  his 

time,  39. 
Cimon,  political  contests  of,  31. 
Ciompi,  riots  of  the,  38. 
Cistercians      founded     by     St. 

Stephen  Harding,  135. 
City-states,  development  of,  24; 
effect    of    over-intellectuality 
on  Italian,  113-115. 
Clement     XIV.,     abolition     of 

Society  of  Jesuits  by,  126. 
Cleopatra,  war  against  Rome,  58. 
Give,  74;  English  expansion  in 

India  under,  78. 
Cluny,   privileges  of  the  abbot 

of,  144. 
Cochin  taken  by  the  Dutch,  73. 
Cologne,    internal    disturbances 

of,  254. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  his  dis- 
covery   of    America,    68;    in- 
fluence of,  125;  great  personal 
force  of,  173. 
Commentarios    Reales,  by   Gar- 

cilasso  de  la  Vega,  21. 
Constance,  unsuccessful  Catholic 

council  at,  146. 
Constantinople,   fall   of,   65;   in 
possession  of  the  Turks,  68; 
treaty  concluded  at,  69;  Rus- 
sia's desire  for,  81. 

283 


INDEX 


Continental  education,  118-120. 

Cornwallis,  74;  English  expan- 
sion in  India   under,  78 

Coronea,  battle  of,  30. 

Corsica  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 54. 

Cortes,  his  conquest  of  Mexico, 
14. 

Council  of  Trent,  question  of 
Catholic  dogma  settled  by 
the,  146. 

Courland,  Germany's  designs  on, 
194. 

Craterus,  Alexander's  corre- 
spondence with,  49. 

Cremieux  as  type  of  successful 
Jew,   138. 

Crete  added  to  Venetian  domin- 
ion, 65. 

Crimean  war,  212. 

Critical  Researches  info  the  Ca- 
nonical Gospels,  by  Ferdinand 
Baur,  154. 

Croatia,  Venetian  possessions  in, 
64. 

Crcesus,  defeat  of,  46. 

Crusades,  the,  63,  65. 

Cuban  war,  cost  of,  262. 

Cuneiform  writing  considered, 
3,  9. 

Custozza,  Italian  losses  in  the 
battle  of,  212. 

Cuzco,  ancient  capital  of  Peru, 
19. 

Cyprus  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 57;  added  to  Venetian 
dominion,  67;  loss  of,  69;  Eng- 
lish occupation  of,  79. 

Cyrenaica  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 57. 

Cyrus,  the  conquests  of,  44. 

Dacia,  58. 

Dalmatia,  Venetian  possessions 

in,  64. 
Dandolo,  Doge,  his  revenge  on 

the  Emperor  Manuel,  65. 
Dante  takes  part  in  the  wars  of 

Florence,  38;  Giotto,  friend  of, 

39;    greatness    of    his    works, 

172. 


Dardanelles,  command  of,  ob- 
tained by  Venice,  65;  Eng- 
lish control  of,  79. 

Darius,  King,  defeated  by  Alex- 
ander, 48;  death  of,  48. 

Darwin,  scientific  investigations 
of,  101. 

David,  King  of  Israel,  Hebrew 
religious  poetry  under,  26. 

Deceleia,  garrison  at,  30. 

De  la  Rey,  effect  of  Calvinism 
on,   125,  134. 

Delhi,  sack  of,  77. 

Demetrius,  his  appeal  to  Rome 
for  help,  54. 

Denmark,  progress  of,  280. 

Descartes,  130. 

De  Wet,  effect  of  Calvinism  on, 
125. 

De  Wette,  his  criticism  of  the 
Old  Testament,  155. 

Diodorus  of  Sicily,  quoted,  4. 

Dionysus,  theatre  of,  112. 

Disraeli  as  type  of  successful 
Jew,  135,  138. 

"  Divina  Commedia,"  by  Dante, 
39. 

Djelaleddin  defeated  by  Gengiz 
Khan,  60. 

Domenico  Michieli,  Doge  of 
Venice,  his  capture  of  Tyre, 
64. 

Don  Juan  of  Austria,  victory 
over  Turks,  69. 

Duaufsechruta,  his  letter  to  his 
son  Pepi,  5. 

Dupleix,  French  director-gen- 
eral, Indian  policy  of,  77. 

Dupuis,  Frangois,  his  work  on 
Christianity,  151. 

Dutch  Empire,  rise  and  growth 
of,  70-75. 

Dutch  Indian  companies,  the 
founding  and  growth  of,  72. 

Ebrrs,  his  discovery  of  Egyp- 
tian papvrus,  3,  4. 

Edward  VII.,  policy  of,  262. 

Egypt,  2;  value  of  the  writings 
of,  considered,  3;  literature 
of,  1;  civilization  of,  6;  art  of, 


284 


INDEX 


7;  the  people  of,  ib.;  Athens 
compared  with,  28;  annexed 
by  Alexander,  48;  imperfec- 
tion of  its  art,  S6;  stagnation 
of,  137. 

Ehu,  his  victory  over  the 
Moabites,  26. 

Elbe-Trieste,  Germany's  pro- 
posed canal,  232,  236. 

Eliot,  George,  271. 

Emanuel,  King,  of  Portugal, 
his  encouragement  to  ex- 
plorers, 70. 

Empire-building,  Alexander  the 
Great's  method  of,  46-50; 
Rome's  method,  50-58;  the 
Mongolian  Empire,  58-61 ; 
rise  and  growth  of  Venetian 
dominions,  61-69;  Dutch 
policy,  69-75;  English  meth- 
ods of,  75-82. 

England,  possessions  of  (see 
British  Empire) ;  literature  of 
89;  will-power  of,  109-111 
effect  of  Calvinism  in,  124 
her  indebtedness  to  foreign 
importations,  136;  stimulat- 
ing effect  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Armada  on,  176;  her  mis- 
understanding of  the  French, 
181;  method  of  training  com- 
pared with  that  of  France, 
185,  187;  wealth  compared 
with  that  of  France,  189; 
policy  of  Germany  towards, 
237-241;  discussed,  247;  class 
distinctions  in,  considered, 
251-255;  humor,  255;  effect 
of  primogeniture,  256;  women 
of,  considered,  256,  257;  do- 
minions of,  259;  her  navy, 
260;  imperialism  of,  261; 
policy  of,  262 ;  future  of, 
263. 

Etruria,  Greek  produce  sent  to, 
33. 

Euboea,  Venetian  unsuccessful 
attempt  upon,  65;  obtained 
by    Venice,    ih. 

Euphrates,  its  influence  on 
Babylonian  civilization,  9. 

28 


Euripides,  patriotism  of,  31;  his 

Orestes,  ib. 
Eusebius,  153. 

Faber,  Peter,  one  of  the  first 
members  of  the  Jesuits,  127. 

Fiesole,  importance  of,  37. 

Finland,  literature  of,  94. 

Florence,  growth  of,  considered, 
36-39,  114. 

Foreigners,  influence  of,  con- 
sidered, 134-136;  influence  of, 
in  America,  26S-271. 

France  in  league  against  Venice, 
69;  decline  of  colonial  empire 
of,  76;  Indian  policy  of,  77; 
literature  of,  compared  with 
English,  93;  effect  of  Cal- 
vinism in,  124;  discussed,  the 
fascination  of,  177,  179; 
foreign  misunderstanding  of, 
180-182;  women  of,  182-187; 
men  of,  1S8;  wealth  of,  189- 
193;  status  of,  193-196;  com- 
parisons with  Germany,  223, 
224;  Richelieu's  idea  of  grand 
canal  for,  233;  attitude  of,  in 
the  event  of  an  Anglo-German 
war,  241 ;  England's  middle 
class  compared  with  bour- 
geoisie of,  252. 

Galatia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 58. 

Gambetta  quoted,  195. 

Gaul  conquered  by  Rome,  58. 

Gaza,  siege  of,  48. 

Gengiz  Khan,  conquests  of,  59- 
61,  210. 

Genoa  at  war  with  Venice,  66, 
114. 

George  Eliot,  271. 

Georges  Sand,  271. 

Germain,  Sophie,  271. 

Germany,  intellectual  progress 
in,  107,  108;  indemnity  ex- 
acted  from  France,  192;  de- 
signs of,  on  Livland  and 
Courland,  194;  her  Polish  pos- 
sessions, 205-208;  considered, 
220;  the  women  of,  222-223; 


INDEX 


class  distinctions  in,  224; 
intellectuality  and  organiza- 
tion of,  226-230;  political 
aspects  of,  '230;  imperialism, 
231-236;  socialism  in,  235; 
geographical  disadvantages  of, 
236;  policy  towards  Eng- 
land, 238-242;  policy  tow- 
ards Holland,  242-243;  future 
of,  244-246,  260;  American 
students,  273. 

Ghibelline  struggle  with  the 
Guelphs,  38. 

Gibbon,  his  use  of  the  French 
language,  180. 

Gibraltar  taken  by  the  English, 
79;  Richelieu's  proposed  canal 
to  undermine  the  power  of, 
233. 

Gideon,  his  victory  over  the 
Midianites,  26. 

Giotto,  the  conditions  of  his 
time,  39. 

Goethe,  his  knowledge  of  French, 
179;  greatness  of,  244,  269. 

Gorgias,  his  debates  with  Socra- 
tes, 32. 

Graaf,  his  criticism  of  the  Old 
Testament,  155. 

Granicus,  defeat  of  Persians  at, 
47. 

Grasse,  Admiral  de,  defeated  the 
English  off  Cape  Henry,  240. 

Greece,  intellectual  progress  of, 
discussed,  84;  literature  of, 
86-103;  causes  of  the  down- 
fall of,  111-113,  117. 

Greek  Cburch,  the,  retarding  in- 
fluence of,  217. 

Gregory  VII.,  Pope,  Emperor 
Henry  IV. 's  submission  to, 
141;  organization  of,  145. 

Grimaldi,  131. 

Grotefend,  his  discovery  of  the 
decipherment  of  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions, 9. 

Guelph  struggle  with  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  38. 

Guiana  added  to  Dutch  domin- 
ion, 72. 

Gulden,  131. 


Hagen,  Peter,  mathematician, 
L31. 

Ilamilcar  Barcas,  12. 

Hamlet,  87;  the  personality  of, 
160,  161. 

Hamurabbi,  King,  code  of  law 
of,  9. 

Hannibal,  12. 

Hastings,  Warren,  English  ex- 
pansion in  India  under, 
78. 

Heine  as  type  of  intellectual 
Jew,  138. 

Helmholtz,  scientific  investiga- 
tions of,  101. 

Henry  IV.,  Emperor,  his  sub- 
mission to  the  Pope,  141. 

Heraclitus,  quoted,  30;  philoso- 
phy of,  99. 

Herodotus,  quoted,  9. 

Herondas,  novels  of,  90. 

Hesiod,  poetry  of,  29. 

Hieroglyphic  paintings  consid- 
ered, 3,  5,  7;  Aztec  manu- 
scripts, 15-17;  limitations  of, 
40. 

Higgins,  Godfrey,  on  the  origin 
of  Christianity,  152. 

Hindu  invasions,  77. 

Holland  (see  Dutch  Empire), 
Germany's  pohev  towards, 
242,  243. 

Homer,  controversy  on  the 
authorship  of  the  works  of, 
157-161,  269. 

Homeric  epics,  perfection  of, 
86. 

Hongkong,  English  strong  posi- 
tion of,  80. 

Houtman  learns  information  for 
weathering  the  Cape,  70; 
voyages  of,  72. 

Hugo,  Victor,  poetr}'  of,  94. 

Humbert,  Therese,  frauds  of, 
192. 

Hungary,  educational  system 
in,  118;  effect  of  Calvinism  in, 
125;  status  of  Jews  in,  203; 
benefit  of  Catholicism  in, 
218. 

Hymettus,  beehives  of,  27. 


286 


INDEX 


"Idyls  of  the  King,"  Tenny: 
son's,  compared  with  medi- 
aeval poems,  98. 

Incas,  ancient  civilization  of  the, 
19-21. 

India,  Dutch  possessions  in,  73; 
use  and  growth  of  England's 
Empire  of,  76-78. 

Indian  companies,  Dutch,  72; 
English  chartered,  76. 

Indies,  trade  to  the,  71. 

Inkermann,  Russian  losses  at 
the  battle  of,  211. 

Intellectual  progress  discussed, 
83-103;  its  effect  on  a  nation, 
106,  111-115;  causes  of  the 
development  of,  115-117;  Con- 
tinental education,  118-120. 

"  Iphigenia  in  Aulis,"  86. 

Italy  discussed,  most  gifted 
nation,  173,  174;  women  of, 
175;  geographical  advantages 
of,  ib.;  its  disadvantages, 
174-177;  its  navy,  260. 

J aiirbvcb,  described,  229,  230. 

Jansenists,  142. 

Java  taken  by  the  Dutch,  72. 

Jeanne  d'Arc,  personality  of, 
165. 

Jena,  battle  of,  its  effect  on 
Germany,  107. 

Jephthah,  his  victory  over  the 
Ammonites,  26. 

Jerusalem,  civilization  of,  con- 
sidered, 26. 

Jesuits,  the,  rise,  growth,  and 
influence  of,  126-131;  person- 
ality of,  10 1. 

Jesus  Christ,  personality  of,  163, 
166. 

Jew,  the,  considered,  132-139; 
commercial  importance  of,  in 
Slav  countries,  202. 

"John  Company,"  policy  of,  77. 

Joubert,  131. 

Kaifa,  reduction  of,  64. 
Kaiser,  the,  quoted,  231. 
"Kalevala,"  celebrated  Finnish 
epic,  91. 


Kant,  philosophy  of,  99. 

Karr,  Alphonse,  quoted,  274. 

Kelvin,  Lord,  scientific  investiga- 
tions of,  101. 

Key  West,  American  naval  base 
at,  80. 

Khitan  subdued  by  Gengiz 
Khan,  54. 

Kublai  Khan,  59. 

Kunersdorf,  Russian  losses  at, 
211. 

Labourdonnais,  his  opposition 
to  English  advance  in  India, 
77. 

ha  Dame  aux  Camelias,  187. 

Langres,  disturbances  of,  253. 

Laokoon,  by  Lessing,  179. 

Laon,  disturbances  of,  253. 

Lassalle,  as  tvpe  of  successful 
Jew,   138. 

Lassen,  his  research  in  cuneiform 
writings,  9. 

Latin  nations  considered,  Spain, 
169  -  172;  Italy,  173  -  177; 
France,  177-197. 

Laurium,  silver-mines  at,  27. 

Layman,  Paul,  moral  courage 
of,  130. 

Laynez,  one  of  the  first  members 
of  the  Jesuits,  127. 

Legnano,  Emperor  Barbarossa 
defeated  at,  117. 

Leibniz,  lack  of  moral  courage 
of,  130;  his  use  of  the  French 
language,  180. 

Lesbos  seized  by  Vitale  Michieli, 
64,  65. 

Lessing,  his  knowledge  of 
French,  179;  greatness  of  the 
works  of,  244. 

Liegnitz,  defeat  of  Mongolians 
at,  61. 

Life  of  Christ,  by  Strauss,  153. 

"  Lights  of  London,  The"  criti- 
cised, 87.  _ 

Liszt,  his  opinion  of  Polish  wom- 
en, 205. 

Literature,  Peruvian,  21;  con- 
ditions favorable  to  the  culti- 
vation of,  22;  Hebrew  poetry, 


287 


INDEX 


26;  of  Greece,  30;  of  Rome, 

35;  of  Greece,  discussed,  85- 

103;  of  America,  271,  274. 
Livland,  Germany's  designs  on, 

I'M. 
Logos  Spermatikos,  by  Edmund 

Spiess,  163. 
Lonnrot,  his  services  to  Finnish 

literature,   94. 
Louis  XIV.,   influence  of,   179. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  founder  of  the 

order  of  Jesuits,  127. 
Lucca  at  war  witli  Florence,  3S, 

114. 
Lucretius,  writings  of,  35. 
Lydia,   conquest  of,   by  Cyrus, 

46;  added  to  Roman  Empire, 

56. 
Lysander,  his  services  to  Sparta, 

135. 

Macaulay,  quoted  on  the  Catho- 
lic Church,   141;  his  opinion 

of  Goethe  and  Lessing,  244. 
Macedonia,  rise  and  growth  of, 

46-50;  fall  of,  55. 
Machiavelli,  39,  114. 
Magnesia,  Roman  victory  at,  56. 
Mago,  his  book  on  agriculture, 

11. 
Mahaffy,  Professor,  opinions  of, 

264. 
Maler,  Professor,  his  journey  up 

the  Usumasinta,  16. 
Malta,  importance  of,  as  naval 

base,  79. 
Manchuria,   Russia's  policy  in, 

215. 
Manuel    Commenus,    Byzantine 

Emperor,  64,  65. 
Marino  Sanuto,  diary  of,  67. 
Marlowe,  161. 
Marseilles,  territories  of,  taken 

by  Rome,  58. 
Martial,  51. 
Mauritius,  naval  importance  of, 

80.  p 
Mazarin,  his  services  to  France, 

135. 
Medes,     conquest    of    the,    by 

Cyrus,  46. 


Melodrama  opposed  to  true  art, 
87. 

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,  as  type 
of  intellectual  Jew,  138. 

Mctellus,  Crete  taken  by,  57. 

Mexico,  civilization  of,  con- 
sidered, 14-17;  America's  war 
with,  262. 

Michael  Angelo  Buonarroti,  114. 

Middle  Ages,  literature  in  the, 
88,  97;  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  the,  142-145;  class 
distinctions  of,  255. 

Middle  class,  lack  of,  in  Slav  na- 
tions, 202-204;  of  Germany, 
225;  French,  British,  discuss- 
ed, 251-255. 

Milford  founded  by  refugees,  136. 

Mithridates,  King,  52;  war 
against  Rome,  57. 

Moghul  Empire,  concessions  to 
Great  Britain,  76;  internal 
disruptions,  77. 

Mohammedanism,  123. 

Mohammed  III.,  of  Khowaresm, 
defeated  by  Gengiz  Khan, 
59. 

Moluccas,  the,  occupied  by  the 
Dutch,  72. 

Mongolian  Empire,  rise  of,  59- 
61. 

Morea  obtained  by  Venice,  65. 

Morgagni,  founder  of  patholog- 
ical anatomy,  174. 

Mormonism,  the  founding  of, 
157. 

Mortara,  Italian  losses  in  the 
battle  of,  212. 

Moses,  personality  of,  162. 

Mozambique,  taken  by  Vasco 
da  Gama,  71. 

Musset,  poetry  of,  94. 

Mysia,  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 56. 

Nancy,  253. 

Napoleon,    character    of,    108; 

personality  of,  164,  205. 
Navy,   English,   importance  of, 

78,  79,  260. 
Nawab  of  Arcot,  77. 


288 


INDEX 


Nawab  Wazir  of  Oudh,  77. 
Negapatam  taken  bv  the  Dutch, 

73. 
Neri,  their  quarrels  against  the 

Bianchi,  39. 
New    Testament,     authenticity 

of  the,  152-156. 
Newton,  his  Principia,  101. 
New  Zealand,  England's  colony, 

81. 
Nijni  Noygorod,  great  Russian 

fair  of,  213. 
Nile,     the,     its     influence     on 

Egypt,  8;  battle  of  the,  193, 

240. 
Nineveh.     See  Babylonia. 
Nizam     of     Hyderabad,     inde- 
pendence of,  77. 
Noricum,  reduction  of,  by  Rome, 

58. 
Noyara,    Italian    losses    in    the 

battle  of,  212. 
Numantia,   Roman   victory   at, 

56. 
Numidia,  defeated  by  Rome,  58. 

Odyssey,  controversy  on  the 
authorship  of  the,  158-160. 

(Edipus  Coloneus,  the,  31. 

Old  Testament,  criticism  on  the, 
155. 

Order  of  Premontre,  135. 

Orders,  Roman  Catholic  relig- 
ious, 135,  142;  organization 
of,  145. 

Orestes,  the,  of  Euripides,  32. 

Origine  de  tous  les  Cultes,  by 
Francois  Dupuis,  151. 

Ostrolenka,  battle  of,  207. 

Palestine  added  to  Roman 
Empire,  57. 

Pamphilia  added  to  Roman 
Empire,  57. 

Pannonia,  reduction  of,  by 
Rome,  58. 

Paphlagonia  added  to  Roman 
Empire,  57. 

Papias,  disciple  of  St.  John,  his 
evidence  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 153. 


Papyrus,  various  Egyptian,  con- 
sidered, 3,  4. 

Paris,  growth  of,  39. 

Parmenides,  philosophy  of,  99. 

Paterini,  massacre  of  the,  38. 

•Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ, 
by  Ferdinand  Baur,  154. 

Peiraeus,  the,  29. 

Peloponnesian  War,  30,  31. 

Pergamum,  55. 

Pericles,  political  contests  of, 
31. 

Perim,  guard  to  the  Red  Sea, 
80. 

Persepolis  conquered  by  Alex- 
ander, 48. 

Persia,  invasion  of  Greece  by, 
30;  battle  of  Salamis,  31;  rise 
of  dominion  of,  46;  Alex- 
ander's conquest  of,  47. 

Personality,  force  of,  157;  of 
Homer,  158;  of  Shakespeare, 
160;  of  Moses,  162;  of  Loyola, 
164;  of  Jeanne  d'Arc,  165;  of 
Jesus,  166. 

Peru,  civilization  of,  17-21. 

Peschel  quoted  on  America,  267. 

Pheidias,  perfection  of  the  works 
of,  84. 

Philip  II.  of  Macedonia,  46. 

Philip  of  Macedonia,  his  con- 
cessions to  Rome,  55. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  defeat  of  his 
Armada,  176. 

Philoctetes,  the,  31. 

Philosophy,  Greek,  discussed, 
98-103. 

Phoenicians,  the  alphabet  dis- 
covered by  the,  41,  42;  in- 
telligence of,  117. 

Phrygia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 57. 

Pindar,  the  poetry  of,  29. 

Pisa,  at  war  with  Florence,  38, 
114;  defeated  by  Venice,  64; 
unsuccessful  Catholic  council 
at,  146. 

Pisidia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 56. 

Pizarro  Francisco,  his  conquos' 
of  Peru,  18. 


289 


INDEX 


Plato,  the  dialogues  of,  32; 
philosophy  of,  99. 

Plevna,  Russian  losses  in  the 
battles  of,  211. 

Plutarch  on  Alexander  the  Great, 
50. 

Poland,  effect  of  Calvinism  in, 
125;  discussed,  203;  women 
of,  discussed,  205-207;  spirit 
of  nationalism,  207. 

Polo,  Marco,  great  personal 
force  of,  173. 

Pompeius,  conquests  of,  57. 

Pomponius  Mela,  51. 

Pons  Sublicius,  33. 

Poor  Clares,  religious  order  of, 
142. 

Port  Hamilton,  English  strong 
position  of,  80. 

Portugal,  imperial  policy  of,  70; 
conquered  by  Spain,  71. 

Porus,  King,  defeated  by  Alex- 
ander, 49. 

Praxiteles,  perfection  of  the 
works  of,  84. 

Principia,  Newton's,  101. 

Prisse  papyrus  considered,  5. 

Prolegomena  in  Homerum,  F.  A. 
Wolf,  158. 

Protagoras,  his  debates  with 
Socrates,  32. 

Protestant  Church,  the,  as  com- 
pared with  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  140, 141,  146-148. 

Psychology  of  nations,  90. 

Ptahhotep,  Prince,  author  of 
the  Prisse  papyrus,  5. 

Pulo-Penang,  English  strong 
position  of,  80. 

Quipu,  the,  or  Peruvian  thread- 
writing,  20,  43. 
Quito,  ancient  road  to,  19. 

Race,  influence  of,  2;  charac- 
teristics not  attributable  to, 
115,  116;  Jewish,  considered, 
132;  Anglo-Saxon,  275. 

Rafael,  114. 

Rameses,  poem  composed  by, 
5. 


Rawlinson,  his  research  in  cunei- 
form writings,  9. 

Religion,  Jerusalem,  25;  various, 
considered,  123;  Calvinism, 
124;  the  Jesuits,  125-131; 
Jewish,  132-139;  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  140-148;  per- 
sonality the  cause  of  the 
founding  of,  149-167. 

Rhaetia,  reduction  of,  bv  Rome, 
58. 

Rhodes,  55. 

Ricci,  mathematician,  13. 

Richelieu,  his  idea  of  a  grand 
canal  for  France,  233. 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  the, 
organization  of,  140-146;  at- 
titude towards  science,  147; 
personality  of  the  Pope,  167; 
French  government's  attitude 
towards,  197. 

Roman  Empire,  beginnings  and 
growth  of,  32;  compared  with 
Greece,  33-36;  its  method  of 
empire-building,  50-58,  123. 

Rothschilds  as  types  of  success- 
ful Jews,  138. 

Rouen,  disturbances  of,  253. 

Roumania,  progress  of,  280. 

Russia  added  to  Mongolian 
Empire,  60;  empire  of,  com- 
pared with  British,  81,  122; 
power  of,  overrated,  208; 
civilization  of,  209;  military 
strength  of,  discussed,  210, 
211;  poverty  of,  212;  geo- 
graphical position  of,  213; 
Eastern  policy  of,  214;  future 
of,  215-219;  scheme  for  a 
grand  canal,  233. 

Russo-Turkish  War,  212. 

Salamis,  battle  of,  31. 

Salmeron  one  of  the  first  mem- 
bers of  the  Jesuits,  127. 

Samarcand  captured  by  Gengiz 
Khan,  60. 

Samos  seized  by  Vitali  Michieli, 
64. 

Samson,  his  victory  over  the 
Philistines,  26. 


290 


INDEX 


San  Miniato  at  war  with 
Florence,  38. 

Sapho,  187. 

Sardinia  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 54. 

Saul,  King  of  Israel,  Hebrew 
religious  poetry  under,  26. 

Savoy,  House  of,  hostility  of  the 
Holy  See  to,  177. 

Schall,  mathematician,  13. 

Scheiner,  131. 

Schiller,  greatness  of  the  works 
of,  244. 

Science,  discussed,  997103,  121; 
Roman  Catholic  attitude  tow- 
ards, 147. 

Scot,  Reginald,  130. 

Scotland,  Calvinism  in,  124. 

Sebenico,  reduction  of,  by 
Venice,  64. 

Sedillot,  Emmanuel,  his  oriental 
research,  13. 

Selden,  John,  quoted  on  ruling, 

'  145. 

Seneca,  51. 

Servia,  progress  of,  280. 

Sforzas,  the,  115. 

Shakespeare,  his  personality  im- 
printed in  his  works,  161. 

Sicily  added  to  Roman  dominion, 
52. 

Sidon,  fall  of,  27,  64. 

Siena,  38. 

"  Silver  King.The,"  criticised,  87. 

Simon  de  Montfort,  135. 

Sinope,  Mithridates  defeated  at, 
57. 

Slav  nations  discussed,  language 
and  characteristics  of,  198- 
203;  Poland,  203-208;  Russia, 
208-219. 

Smith,  John,  founder  of  Mor- 
monism,  157. 

Society  of  Jesus.     See  Jesuits. 

Socrates,  the  debates  of  Protag- 
oras and  Gorgias  with,  32; 
philosophy  of,  99. 

Sofala  taken  by  Vasco  da 
Gama,  70. 

Solferino,  Italian  losses  in  the 
battle  of,  212. 


Sophocles,  his  celebration  on  the 

victory   of   Salamis,    31;    the 

plays  of,  84. 
South  Africa,  England's  colony 

of,  81;  effect  of  Calvinism  on 

Boers,    125;   cost   of   war   in, 

261. 
Spain,  conquered  by  Rome,  56, 

57;  in  league  against  Venice, 

69;  conquests  and  policy  of, 

70;  jealousv  of,  ib.;  discussed, 

169-172. 
Spalato,  reduction  of,  by  Venice, 

64. 
Spee.     Frederick,     his     Cautio 

Criminalis,  130. 
Spencer,        Herbert,       Russian 

knowledge  of  the  writings  of, 

201. 
Spiess,    Edmund,   his   book   on 

Christianity,  163. 
Spinoza,  130;   on   Jewish   type, 

134. 
Stael,  Madame  de,  271. 
St.     Bruno,     founder     of     the 

Carthusian  order,  135. 
St.  Helena,  naval  importance  of, 

80. 
St.   Lucia,   Italian   losses   in  the 

battle  of,  211. 
St.  Norbert,  founder  of  the  order 

of  Premontre,  135. 
St.    Paul,    authenticity    of    his 

Epistles,    153;    his    teaching, 

163. 
St.  Stephen  Harding,  founder  of 

the  Cistercian  order,  135. 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  philosoph- 
ical attitude  of,  148. 
St.  Thome  taken  by  the  Dutch, 

73. 
Strauss,  his  Life  of  Christ,  153. 
Suez  Canal  of  great  advantage 

to  Italy,  175;  statistics  of,  234. 
Suffren.    See  Bailli  de. 
Supernatural  Religion,  150. 
Surat  conceded  to  Great  Britain, 

76. 
Surinam  added  to  Dutch  domin- 
ion, 72. 
Susa,  fall  of,  48. 


291 


INDEX 


Swansea   founded   by    refugees, 

136. 
Sweden,  effect  of  Calvinism  in, 

125. 
Sylvester  II.,  Pope,  his  benefits 

to  Hungary,  218. 
Syracuse   conquered   by   Rome, 

55. 
Syria  added  to  Roman  Empire, 
"57. 

Tanagra,  battle  of,  30. 

Temuchin,  afterwards  made 
Gengiz  Khan,  conquests  of, 
59-61. 

Terceira,  Spanish  naval  victory 
off,  172. 

Teuta,  Queen,  her  appeal  to 
Rome  for  help,  54. 

Tezcuco,  Mexico's  ancient  capi- 
tal, 14,  16. 

Tiber,  the,  32,  34. 

Tigris,  its  influence  on  Babylo- 
nian civilization,  9. 

Themistocles,  31 ;  his  services  to 
Greece,  135. 

Thcodicce,  by  Leibniz,  com- 
posed in  the  French  lan- 
guage, 180. 

Thrace  added  to  Roman  Em- 
pire, 56. 

Thucydides,  historical  writings 
of,  compared,  95. 

Tolstoi,  influence  of,  218. 

Toltecs,  ancient  civilization  of 
the,  17. 

Tommaso  Mocenigo,  his  testi- 
mony of  Venetian  greatness, 
66. 

Topelius,  his  services  to  Finnish 
literature,  94. 

Tozetti,  T.  Targioni,  quoted,  37. 

Trafalgar,  battle  of,  240. 

Trajan,  conquests  of,  58. 

Trani,  reduction  of,  by  Venice, 
64. 

Trappists,  order  of,  142. 

Treaty  of  Paris,  79. 

Treaty  of  Utrecht,  79. 

Tubingen  school  of  criticism, 
153-155. 


Tuji,  conquests  of,  61. 

Turks,    69;    defeated    by    Don 

Juan  of  Austria,  ib. 
Turner,  Pater  Adam,  courage  of, 

130. 
Tyre,  fall  of,  27,  48;  taken  by 

Venice,  64. 

Uhle,  Professor,  his  researches 
into  Peruvian  history,  21. 

United  States.     See  America. 

Usumasinta,  Professor  Maler's 
journey  up  the,  16. 

Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  79. 

Varus  defeated  by  the  Ger- 
mans, 58. 

Vasco  da  Gama,  voyages  of,  70. 

Vega,  Garcilasso  de  la,  quoted 
on  Peru,  21. 

Venice,  its  rise  and  growth, 
62-69,  114;  geographical  ad- 
vantages of,  175. 

Vespucci,  pioneer  work  of,  173. 

Via  jfimilia,  57. 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  39,  114. 

Virchow,  scientific  investigations 
of,  101. 

Viriathus,  assassination  of,  56. 

Vitale  Michieli,  Doge  of  Venice, 
conquests  of,  64. 

Viterbo,  37. 

Vladivostok,  209. 

Volition  discussed,  104. 

Volkerpsychologie,  by  Wundt, 
90. 

Volta,  physicist  of  Pavia,  174. 

Wagner,  originator  of  new  form 
of  musical  expression,  98. 

Walewski,  Madame,  Napoleon's 
relations  with,  206. 

Warsaw,  Russian  losses  at  the 
battle  of,  211. 

Wasmann,  Pater  E.,  on  evolu- 
tion,  131. 

Wei-hai-wei,  English  strong  po- 
sition of,  80. 

Weir,   130. 

Wellesley,  English  expansion  in 
India  under,  78. 


292 


INDEX 


Wesley,    John,     founder    of    a 

religious  sect,  157. 
Wesleyanism,  the  beginning  of, 

157. 
West  Indian  Company,  Dutch, 

72. 
Whewell.       his       criticism       of 

Aristotle,   103. 
Whistler,    original    manner    of 

painting,  98. 
William  III.,  135. 
Will-power  discussed,   105-107, 

117-120,  250. 
Winckler,    Dr.    Hugo,    on    the 

alphabet,  41. 
Wolf,    F.    A.,    his    criticism    of 

Homer,  158. 
Wundt,     Professor,     Volkerpsy- 

chologie,  by,  90. 
Wiirzburg,   burning  of   witches 

at,   130. 

Xavier,    Francis,  one   of   the 


first  members  of  the  Jesuits, 
127. 

Yang-tse,  12. 

"  Yassa,"  the  code  of  con- 
stitution drawn  up  by  Gengiz 
Khan,  61. 

Yaxchilan,  discovery  of  ancient 
city  of,  116. 

Yellow  Terror,  the,  122. 

Young,  Arthur,  his  book  on 
travels  through   France,  250. 

Yulun,  mother  of  Gengiz  Khan, 
59. 

Zante  retained  by  Venice,  69. 

Zara,  reduction  of,  by  Venice, 
64,  65. 

Zodiac,  the,  151. 

Zorndorf,  Russian  losses  at,  211. 

Zumarraga,  Bishop,  his  dis- 
covery of  Aztec  hieroglyphic 
manuscripts,  15. 


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